Anatomy of a SaaS Dashboard

I’ve spent many years as a SaaS CEO, and advising SaaS CEOs— growing from $1M in ARR to $40M+. I’ve always been data-driven, but when I discovered live dashboards, it changed my day-to-day life. Metrics are important, but access to and visualization of key data are much harder to come by. So here’s the anatomy of the SaaS dashboard I always use and recommend (no matter the role I’m in).

Revenue

In enterprise SaaS, I find anything less than quarters to be too lumpy for a CEO dashboard. I have analytics feeds and department-specific dashboards that were much more granular (real-time sometimes), but for the highest level stuff, I keep it to quarters.

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

CAC is vitally important to every SaaS leader. It illustrates the overall capital efficiency of growth through the lens of sales & marketing efficacy. I like to look at most metrics over time — typically trailing eight quarters — for perspective and trends.

LTV (Lifetime Value)

Customer lifetime value (LTV) is another favorite of mine. It encapsulates ARPU (average revenue per unit) and retention/expansion trends into a mighty important number. Another way to look at CAC and LTV is as a ratio, but I prefer to see the dollars in my dashboards.

Gross & Net Churn

Churn is what we all work to minimize. I like to track gross churn (all losses) as well as net churn (gross churn minus expansion revenue). These two metrics really reflect on two entirely different things — unsatisfied customers (spending less) and uber satisfied ones (spending more).

New Contract Value

Sales results are shown in arrears in this new contract value gauge. This is the aggregate sum of ARR (annual recurring revenue) booked within a quarter and an obvious way to see new business trends. Because contracts are typically annual, billed, and paid in advance, new contract value also serves to foreshadow cash flow for the following quarter.

Pipeline

New contract value shows sales results in arrears, but pipeline is a forward-looking metric that helps frame expectations for the coming quarter. Pipe is also an indicator of potential problems — providing a heads-up for needed sales & marketing investments or adjustments.

Customer Growth Potential

Expansion revenue is a big focus and a great offset for gross churn. Customer growth potential is useful from that perspective, and also reflectss on customer quality and fit.

Growth-Focused SaaS CEO Dashboard

Different companies have different priorities. This dashboard reflects priorities and focus on growth. If financial and operational aspects of the business need inspection then metrics around gross margin and expenses can and should be included in a dashboard.

Another candidate that makes it onto many a leadership dashboard, but not this one, is ARPU (average revenue per unit). If your ARPU isn’t stable and predictable, or if we are working to raise or lower it, it should be reflected on the dashboard. And any variance in LTV would lead to ARPU pretty quickly.

I’d recommend limiting your metrics to ten or fewer; including only those metrics that have significant volatility or variability; and only ones that align with current goals and initiatives. You don’t need a dashboard to watch paint dry.