Taking Control of ARR

• By
• Bobby Pinero

  Bobby Pinero

  15+ years of corporate finance experience, currently co-founder at Equals and board member at Intercom.

  

• Chris Burgner

  Chris Burgner

  12+ years of experience, most recently as a Director of Finance at Intercom.

  

We have a lot of empathy for that first finance hire. Everything outlined in this book is daunting to take on and make it all work. And there’s the added pressure of feeling the need to get it right. We know because we’ve been there ourselves.

If you feel stuck or overwhelmed, please reach out. We’re here to help. As a part of Equals, we offer support in building all of this. We’ve helped many SaaS companies set up their own ARR reporting.

Want more?

We got you. Here are some of our favorite resources related to ARR and subscription-based business models.

SaaS Metrics 2.0

This is the holy bible of SaaS metrics. It’s where I learned the fundamentals of how a recurring revenue business works. It does a nice job of explaining why recurring revenue models are different, why the cash flow dynamics are different, why the recurring nature of revenue matters, and how to think about the lifetime value of said revenue. It’s everything. Read it.

Why are SaaS companies valued on revenue multiples?

Every business outside of SaaS is valued on earnings and profit, not revenue. Yet SaaS companies are valued on revenue multiples. Why? Read this to find out.

How Figma measured Self-Serve ARR

This is a deep dive into one of the greatest technology companies of all time and how they measured their business. It covers the exact model they used to measure and forecast self-serve ARR at the time.

How Snowflake forecast ARR

Another one of the great SaaS companies of our generation shows how they built their ARR forecasting process. It’s fascinating.

SaaS Metrics for Fundraising

If you’re a SaaS business considering raising capital, ARR is one of the core metrics you need to report strongly on. But what else will investors ask you along the process? This handy resource covers everything you need to prepare.

Meritech SaaS Index

In general, we’re wary of benchmarking for all the reasons discussed previously. However, Meritech have put together here a great resource that pulls key metrics from every SaaS public company.

Clouded Judgement

This blog is one of the best places to stay up to speed on the most recent SaaS trends and public company earnings.