For someone who is looking at building a profitable SaaS business this article is a treasure trove http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/saas-metrics/ .
It is very precisely written and then progressively drills down in great detail how and which numbers matter and how you can address+assess them and use them to drive the business in the right direction.
Some Key takeaways for me
- Focus on Cash and CashFlow profitability
- Many SaaS businesses make the mistake of taking renewals for granted. Every renewal should be treated like a easier new sale exercise.
- Watch “Churn” and reasons for the same like a hawk.
- Honestly measure the amount of “Touch” required for a lead to be converted into a sale. Look at reducing this to as close to ZERO as possible.
- Invest in “Inbound” marketing.
- Never take your eye off ways and means to add “Growth” in Funnel Capacity thus avoiding sudden deceleration once robust growth has been achieved.
- Always look to UpSell by adding more features to your product.