Below is a collection of links related to SaaS economics, metrics, and the subscription business model. There are a few online writers who have written extensively about the topic, so I have grouped their articles together (although you should really check out their entire catalog of work on their sites).
If you find any others, please let me know.
Dave Kellogg – Kellblog.com
- Calculating ATR and Annual Based Churn Rates
https://kellblog.com/2018/06/27/important-subtleties-in-calculating-quarterly-annual-and-atr-based-churn-rates/ - How to Measure SaaS Churn Rates
https://kellblog.com/2016/12/27/a-fresh-look-at-how-to-measure-saas-churn-rates/ - SaaS Rule of 40
https://kellblog.com/2017/07/25/the-saas-rule-of-40/ - 10 Obvious Things About Not Scaling SaaS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag1vZlao7UU - SaaS Metrics Dashboard
https://kellblog.com/2016/12/23/saas-startup-one-slide-financial-dashboard/ - Sales Success Metrics
https://kellblog.com/2018/07/17/the-use-of-ramped-rep-equivalents-rres-in-sales-analytics-and-modeling/ - Rule of 40 Glidescope
https://kellblog.com/2019/01/30/rule-of-40-glideslope-planning/ - Bookings vs Billings in SaaS Companies
https://kellblog.com/2018/05/10/bookings-vs-billings-in-a-saas-company/ - Setting Sales Quotas
https://kellblog.com/2020/02/15/how-to-make-and-use-a-proper-sales-bookings-productivity-and-quota-capacity-model/ - Scaling SaaS
https://www.slideshare.net/ramblingman/saastr18-dave-kellogg-ten-nonobvious-about-scaling-saas
Tren Griffin – 25iq.com
- Understanding Gross Margins by Industry
https://25iq.com/2017/02/04/gross-margin-for-fun-and-profit-involves-beer-and-music-streaming/ - Economics of Subscription Businesses
https://25iq.com/2018/08/11/how-subscription-business-models-are-changing-business-and-investing-the-microeconomics-of-subscriptions/ - Peloton as SaaS Business Case
https://25iq.com/2018/03/10/peloton-the-saas-plus-a-box-business-case/ - Amazon Prime and how do you value a subscriber
https://25iq.com/2017/07/15/amazon-prime-and-other-subscription-businesses-how-do-you-value-a-subscriber/ - Unit Economics
https://25iq.com/2016/12/31/a-half-dozen-ways-to-look-at-the-unit-economics-of-a-business/ - Customer Acquisitions Costs
https://25iq.com/2016/12/09/why-is-customer-acquisition-cost-cac-like-a-belly-button/ - Valuing a Subscription Business and GAAP
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1081578766009159682.html - Twitter thread with links on retention, unit economics, CAC, gross margin
https://twitter.com/trengriffin/status/1103293612861743104?s=21 - Product Distribution and Business Model Fit
https://25iq.com/2018/06/02/proprietary-product-distribution-is-better-than-sliced-bread/
Other Links
- Churn Benchmarks for Recurring Business Model
https://www.reforge.com/brief/churn-benchmarks-for-recurring-revenue-businesses - Netflix Business Strategy
https://redef.com/original/netflix-isnt-being-reckless-its-just-playing-a-game-no-one-else-dares-netflix-misunderstandings-pt-3 - Burn Rates for a Startup Company
https://bothsidesofthetable.com/what-is-the-right-burn-rate-at-a-startup-company-ae80d5d76c07 - Best Books on SaaS
https://tomtunguz.com/best-books-saas-sales/ - The Demise of MoviePass and understanding the value chain
https://stratechery.com/2018/moviepass-finally-value-chains-and-unit-costs-atlassian-and-slack/ - Adobe’s Subscription Model and Why it Matters
https://stratechery.com/2013/adobes-subscription-model-why-platform-owners-should-care/ - Bill Gates on Marginal Costs and Capitalism without Capital
https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Capitalism-Without-Capital - Bill Gurley on The Seduction of LTV
http://abovethecrowd.com/2012/09/04/the-dangerous-seduction-of-the-lifetime-value-ltv-formula/ - Bill Gurley on Software and Hardware
http://abovethecrowd.com/2003/02/10/software-in-a-box-the-comeback-of-the-hardware-based-business-model/ - Churn Tips
http://chaotic-flow.com/saas-metrics-faqs-what-is-churn/ - Metrics before Fundraising
https://medium.com/point-nine-news/6-saas-metric-frameworks-benchmarks-to-know-before-fundraising-901b4b1c9125 - How Public companies report churn and retention
http://christophjanz.blogspot.com/2017/12/how-public-saas-companies-report-churn.html - SaaS resource for public companies
https://www.key.com/businesses-institutions/industry-expertise/saas-resources.jsp - Size of Customer to Target
http://christophjanz.blogspot.com/2019/04/five-years-later-five-ways-to-build-100.html - Growing B2B: Self-serve or Enterprise Sales?
https://medium.com/lightspeed-venture-partners/thoughts-on-non-linear-growth-in-b2b-startups-452c0263b08f - The Art of Profitability book summary
https://jamesclear.com/book-summaries/the-art-of-profitability - Collection of Strategies and Frameworks (see entire thread and replies)
https://twitter.com/patrick_oshag/status/1125057498468241408?s=20 - Measuring CAC in a 2-sided market
https://medium.com/@natalieluu/how-to-measure-cac-in-a-two-sided-marketplace-86a48db64bf8 - Example of SaaS Financial Plan Excel Model
http://christophjanz.blogspot.com/2016/03/saas-financial-plan-20.html - Pricing Tips
https://firstround.com/review/our-6-must-reads-on-pricing-a-product/ - ARR and funding rounds
https://www.shinkim.io/posts/lessons-on-capital-efficiency-from-21-saas-ipos - Amazon’s Strategies and Tactics
https://stratechery.com/2017/amazons-new-customer/
Bundling Economics
- Bundling Magic
https://divinations.substack.com/p/bundle-magic - The 4 Myths of Bundling
https://coda.io/@shishir/four-myths-of-bundling - Shishir additional Links
https://coda.io/@shishir/four-myths-of-bundling/extras-7 - Why Bundling Works
https://cdixon.org/2012/07/08/how-bundling-benefits-sellers-and-buyers
Rhett Weller 