Metric Inputs Guide

Total recognized revenue for the reporting period, on the same accrual or cash basis your board pack already uses.

Where it lives:

Your P&L, Total Income line, for the period being reported.

Pitfalls:

Mixing accrual revenue in one calculator with cash receipts in another moves margin and growth numbers without a real change in the business. Pick one basis and reuse it everywhere.

Direct costs of delivering the product for the period: hosting, support, and any services cost your board treats as COGS.

Where it lives:

P&L, Cost of Goods Sold section, same period as revenue.

Pitfalls:

Scope drift (moving support staff in or out of COGS quarter to quarter) is the most common cause of a gross margin trend that does not match the underlying business.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for the period, using the one definition (GAAP, adjusted, or board-normalized) your board has agreed on.

Where it lives:

Board-adjusted P&L or your finance team's EBITDA bridge.

Pitfalls:

Switching between GAAP and adjusted EBITDA mid-year moves Rule of 40 without a real change in profitability. Pin one definition for the fiscal year.

Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures for the period, or your board's adjusted free cash flow definition.

Where it lives:

Cash flow statement, or your FP&A free cash flow bridge.

Pitfalls:

Changing the capex treatment between periods will move FCF margin and Rule of X independent of operating performance.

Cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet as of the reporting date.

Where it lives:

Balance sheet, or your bank balance summary as of period end.

Total monthly operating expenses (opex) excluding COGS, used for runway and burn scenarios.

Where it lives:

Monthly P&L, operating expense total.

Current month revenue, used alongside monthly opex to model runway scenarios.

Where it lives:

Monthly P&L, Total Income.

Pitfalls:

Runway's monthly revenue is a single month, not the period revenue used by gross margin or EBITDA margin; do not average the two.

Revenue for the comparison period used in growth calculations: same period last year for YoY, or the prior quarter for QoQ.

Where it lives:

P&L for the comparison period.

Pitfalls:

Label the comparison window (YoY or QoQ) consistently across Revenue Growth, Rule of 40, and Rule of X so a reader is not comparing different windows under one label.

The board-approved revenue target for the period being measured against pipeline.

Where it lives:

The annual operating plan or board-approved forecast.

(Revenue minus COGS) divided by revenue. Computed automatically from revenue and COGS; override only if your board uses a different definition.

Where it lives:

Derived from the Revenue and COGS you already entered.

How to derive it:

Gross margin % = (Revenue - COGS) / Revenue x 100.

(Current revenue minus prior revenue) divided by prior revenue, times 100. Computed automatically once both periods are entered.

Where it lives:

Derived from Revenue and Prior period revenue.

How to derive it:

Revenue growth % = (Current - prior) / prior x 100.

EBITDA divided by revenue, times 100. Computed automatically once both atoms are entered.

Where it lives:

Derived from Revenue and EBITDA.

How to derive it:

EBITDA margin % = EBITDA / Revenue x 100.

Free cash flow divided by revenue, times 100. Computed automatically once both atoms are entered.

Where it lives:

Derived from Revenue and Free cash flow.

How to derive it:

FCF margin % = Free cash flow / Revenue x 100.

Total recurring revenue normalized to a monthly figure as of the period. The canonical recurring-revenue number: ARR and quarterly ARR are derived from this, not entered separately.

Where it lives:

Your billing system's MRR report (Stripe Billing, Chargebee, or your subscription ledger).

How to derive it:

If you only have ARR, divide by 12; this registry does the reverse conversion automatically wherever ARR is needed.

Recurring revenue from the cohort at the start of the retention measurement window, before this period's churn, contraction, or expansion.

Where it lives:

Billing system MRR report, prior period closing balance.

Pitfalls:

NRR and GRR must use the same beginning MRR and the same cohort scope, or the two metrics will not reconcile against each other.

Recurring revenue added this period from brand-new paying customers.

Where it lives:

Billing system MRR movement report, New MRR line.

Additional recurring revenue this period from existing customers upgrading or adding seats.

Where it lives:

Billing system MRR movement report, Expansion MRR line.

Pitfalls:

Keep this figure aligned across Churn, Quick Ratio, and NRR; a different expansion definition in each calculator breaks reconciliation.

Recurring revenue lost this period from customers who cancelled entirely.

Where it lives:

Billing system MRR movement report, Churned MRR line.

Pitfalls:

Gross churned MRR should exclude contraction (downgrades); keep the two lines separate.

Recurring revenue lost this period from customers who downgraded but did not cancel.

Where it lives:

Billing system MRR movement report, Contraction MRR line.

Sum of annual contract value across contracts signed with an annual term, used to derive ACV.

Where it lives:

CRM closed-won report, filtered to annual-term deals.

Count of contracts with an annual term signed in the period, used to derive ACV.

Where it lives:

CRM closed-won report, filtered to annual-term deals.

Monthly recurring revenue divided by paying accounts. Computed automatically once both atoms are entered.

Where it lives:

Derived from Monthly recurring revenue and Paying accounts.

How to derive it:

ARPA = MRR / paying accounts.

(Beginning MRR minus churned MRR minus contraction MRR plus expansion MRR) divided by beginning MRR, times 100. Computed automatically once its atoms are entered.

Where it lives:

Derived from Beginning MRR, Churned MRR, Contraction MRR, and Expansion MRR.

How to derive it:

NRR = (Beginning MRR - churned - contraction + expansion) / Beginning MRR x 100.

New ARR plus expansion ARR minus churned ARR minus contraction ARR, derived from the monthly MRR movement atoms annualized. Computed automatically once its atoms are entered.

Where it lives:

Derived from New MRR, Expansion MRR, Churned MRR, and Contraction MRR (annualized).

How to derive it:

Net new ARR = New ARR + Expansion ARR - Churned ARR - Contraction ARR.

Monthly recurring revenue times 12, the standard annualized run-rate figure.

Where it lives:

Derived from Monthly recurring revenue.

How to derive it:

ARR = MRR x 12.

Pitfalls:

ARR is a run-rate, not a forecast or contracted backlog; label it as such in board materials.

ARR run rate at the end of the current quarter, computed as the quarter's final monthly MRR times 12. Falls back to a direct entry when no MRR history exists (a new engagement).

Where it lives:

Derived from the most recent month of Monthly recurring revenue.

ARR run rate at the end of the quarter before the current one, computed as that quarter's final monthly MRR times 12. Falls back to a direct entry when insufficient history exists.

Where it lives:

Derived from the final month of Monthly recurring revenue in the prior quarter.

Number of active paying accounts as of the reporting date, used to derive ARPA.

Where it lives:

Billing system active subscription count.

Count of new paying customers acquired in the period, used to compute blended CAC.

Where it lives:

CRM closed-won report, new logos only (exclude expansion deals on existing accounts).

Number of active paying customers at the start of the period, the base for logo churn.

Where it lives:

Billing system active customer count, prior period end.

Count of customers who cancelled entirely during the period, the numerator for logo churn.

Where it lives:

Billing system cancellation report.

Total active customer count as of the reporting date, used as the base for attach-rate metrics.

Where it lives:

Billing system active customer count.

Monthly churn rate on a 0 to 100 scale, used as the denominator in gross-profit LTV.

Where it lives:

Billing system churn report, or compute from starting customers and churned customers.

Pitfalls:

LTV is highly sensitive to this figure at low churn rates; a small measurement error produces a large LTV swing.

ARPA times gross margin, divided by monthly churn rate. Computed automatically once its atoms are entered.

Where it lives:

Derived from Monthly ARPA, Gross margin %, and Monthly churn rate.

How to derive it:

LTV = ARPA x Gross margin / Monthly churn rate.

Pitfalls:

Sensitive to low churn rates; treat this as a heuristic rather than a precise valuation input.

Fully loaded sales and marketing spend for the period (salaries, commissions, programs, tools), on one consistent scope.

Where it lives:

P&L, Sales and Marketing expense line.

Pitfalls:

Keep scope consistent between CAC and GTM Efficiency; adding or dropping a cost line changes both without a real efficiency change.

Net cash burned in the period (cash out minus cash in from operations), used against net new ARR.

Where it lives:

Cash flow statement or the FP&A burn model.

Average fully loaded monthly cost (salary, benefits, taxes, tools) per new hire, used in runway hiring scenarios.

Where it lives:

HR or finance compensation planning model.

Sales and marketing spend divided by new customers acquired. Computed automatically once both atoms are entered.

Where it lives:

Derived from Sales and marketing spend and New customers acquired.

How to derive it:

Blended CAC = Sales and marketing spend / New customers acquired.

Total sales and marketing spend for the quarter before the current one, computed from monthly spend history. Falls back to a direct entry when insufficient history exists.

Where it lives:

Derived from 3 months of Sales and marketing spend before the current quarter.

Total value of open, qualified pipeline as of the reporting date.

Where it lives:

CRM pipeline report, filtered to qualified stages.

Count of open qualified opportunities used to compute expected sales velocity.

Where it lives:

CRM pipeline report, qualified stages, count of records.

Average closed-won deal value over a recent trailing period.

Where it lives:

CRM closed-won report, average of deal value.

Average number of days from opportunity creation to close-won.

Where it lives:

CRM reporting, average opportunity age at close.

Count of closed-won opportunities in the period, the numerator for win rate.

Where it lives:

CRM closed-won report.

Count of all closed opportunities (won plus lost) in the period, the denominator for win rate.

Where it lives:

CRM closed report, won and lost combined.

Count of product integrations currently live, measured against the expected stack for the target segment.

Where it lives:

Product or partnerships integration inventory.

Number of tools in the expected tech stack for your target customer segment, the denominator for integration coverage.

Where it lives:

Competitive or market research on the target segment's typical stack.

Won deals divided by total closed deals, times 100. Computed automatically once both atoms are entered.

Where it lives:

Derived from Won deals and Total closed deals.

How to derive it:

Win rate % = Won deals / Total closed deals x 100.

Total company headcount across all functions, as of the reporting date.

Where it lives:

HRIS headcount report.

Headcount in go-to-market functions (sales, marketing, customer success as applicable), as of the reporting date.

Where it lives:

HRIS headcount report, filtered to GTM functions.

Pitfalls:

This is a different denominator than total FTEs; do not mix New ARR per GTM FTE with Revenue per Employee.

Count of account executives who have completed ramp and are carrying full quota.

Where it lives:

Sales operations headcount report.

Average annual quota assigned per account executive.

Where it lives:

Sales compensation plan.

The attainment rate assumption used in capacity planning, a plan number rather than a UI toggle.

Where it lives:

Sales capacity or operating plan model.

The board-approved bookings target for the period, compared against ramped quota capacity.

Where it lives:

Annual or quarterly operating plan.

Ramped AEs times average quota per AE times the attainment assumption. Computed automatically once its atoms are entered.

Where it lives:

Derived from Ramped AEs, Average quota per AE, and Attainment assumption.

How to derive it:

Ramped quota capacity = Ramped AEs x Average quota per AE x Attainment assumption.

Average revenue per account at published list price, before discounting.

Where it lives:

Pricing sheet or price list.

Actual average revenue per account collected after discounts and concessions.

Where it lives:

Billing system, average invoiced amount per account.

Average discount percent applied off list price across deals in the period.

Where it lives:

Deal desk approval log or billing system discount field.

Revenue attributed to the largest (or first-ranked) customer segment for the period.

Where it lives:

Revenue-by-segment report or CRM segment field rollup.

Revenue attributed to the second-ranked customer segment for the period.

Where it lives:

Revenue-by-segment report or CRM segment field rollup.

Revenue attributed to the third-ranked customer segment for the period.

Where it lives:

Revenue-by-segment report or CRM segment field rollup.

Revenue attributed to the fourth-ranked customer segment for the period.

Where it lives:

Revenue-by-segment report or CRM segment field rollup.

Revenue attributed to the fifth-ranked customer segment for the period.

Where it lives:

Revenue-by-segment report or CRM segment field rollup.

Count of customers actively using the single most-adopted integration.

Where it lives:

Product analytics or integration usage report.

New ARR sourced from the inbound channel this period, one component of the new ARR sourcing mix.

Where it lives:

CRM lead-source rollup on closed-won new business.

New ARR sourced from the outbound channel this period, one component of the new ARR sourcing mix.

Where it lives:

CRM lead-source rollup on closed-won new business.

New ARR sourced from partners or channel resellers this period, one component of the new ARR sourcing mix.

Where it lives:

CRM lead-source rollup on closed-won new business.

New ARR from product-led or self-serve signups this period, one component of the new ARR sourcing mix.

Where it lives:

Billing system, self-serve signup revenue.

Expansion ARR this period, reported as one component of the new ARR sourcing mix breakdown. This is a separate entry from the recurring-revenue Expansion MRR atom because the sourcing mix is a single-calculator view.

Where it lives:

Billing system MRR movement report, Expansion MRR, annualized.