Saas Revenue Growth Metrics
Structure and interpret MRR, churn, NRR, and Quick Ratio snapshots so you can judge whether your SaaS growth is healthy before the next pricing or roadmap decision.
Overview
SaaS Revenue Growth Metrics is an agent skill most often used in Grow (also Validate pricing, Operate iterate) that structures MRR, retention, and Quick Ratio analysis from a monthly SaaS snapshot.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/deanpeters/product-manager-skills --skill saas-revenue-growth-metricsWhat is this skill?
- Worked example for MRR/ARR roll-forward with new, expansion, churned, and contraction lines
- Derives ARPA, ARPU, logo vs revenue churn, and NRR from the same snapshot
- Computes Quick Ratio from gains (new + expansion) vs losses (churn + contraction)
- Interprets revenue churn below logo churn as a healthier mix when smaller accounts leave
- Pairs metric blocks with strength/risk analysis prompts for solo PM judgment
- Example tracks 7% MoM MRR growth with Quick Ratio 4.5 in the sample snapshot
Adoption & trust: 1.3k installs on skills.sh; 5k GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You have billing and user counts but no consistent roll-up of MRR components, churn, and NRR to decide if growth is actually healthy.
Who is it for?
Indie founders and solo PMs running a subscription product who review metrics monthly or before investor updates.
Skip if: Pre-revenue ideas with no MRR history, or teams that already have a live BI dashboard and only need SQL—not definitional PM framing.
When should I use this skill?
You need a structured SaaS revenue and retention metrics worksheet from your own monthly numbers.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You leave with a filled metric worksheet, derived ARPA/ARPU/NRR/Quick Ratio, and explicit strength-vs-risk notes to drive the next pricing or retention action.
- Completed MRR/ARR roll-forward
- NRR and Quick Ratio calculations
- Strengths and risks narrative
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Revenue and retention metrics are the canonical grow-phase shelf because they answer whether the product is compounding after launch. Analytics is where founders reconcile new, expansion, churn, and contraction MRR into one monthly picture.
Where it fits
Model whether a planned price increase survives expected contraction MRR before you change plans.
Produce a monthly MRR bridge and NRR for your investor or cofounder update.
Compare expansion MRR to churned MRR to prioritize onboarding vs upsell experiments.
After a retention fix ships, re-run the snapshot to see if Quick Ratio improved.
How it compares
Use instead of guessing SaaS jargon in chat when you need the same definitions investors expect on a metrics slide.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is saas-revenue-growth-metrics for?
Solo and indie builders running B2B or prosumer SaaS who own product and need to read MRR, churn, and NRR without a dedicated finance partner.
When should I use saas-revenue-growth-metrics?
Use it in Grow when reviewing monthly analytics, in Validate when stress-testing pricing against retention, and in Operate when iterating on expansion vs churn after a release.
Is saas-revenue-growth-metrics safe to install?
It is procedural guidance over example numbers—no shell or network by default. Review the Security Audits panel on this Prism page before installing any skill from the repo.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Saas Revenue Growth Metrics
# Example: Healthy SaaS Metrics **Company:** ProjectHub (mid-market project management SaaS) **Stage:** Growth stage, Series B funded **Customer Base:** 200 accounts, 20,000 users **Period:** Monthly snapshot --- ## Revenue Metrics ### MRR/ARR ``` Starting MRR: $2,000,000 + New MRR: $100,000 (10 new accounts) + Expansion MRR: $80,000 (upsells + usage growth) - Churned MRR: $30,000 (5 accounts churned) - Contraction MRR: $10,000 (3 accounts downgraded) Ending MRR: $2,140,000 MRR Growth Rate: 7% MoM ARR: $25.7M ``` ### ARPA/ARPU ``` ARPA = $2,140,000 / 200 accounts = $10,700/month ARPU = $2,140,000 / 20,000 users = $107/month Average seats per account = 100 users ``` ### Revenue Components ``` New MRR: $100K (5% of total) Expansion MRR: $80K (4% of total) Churned MRR: $30K (1.5% of total) Contraction MRR: $10K (0.5% of total) ``` --- ## Retention & Expansion Metrics ### Churn Rate ``` Logo Churn: 5 / 200 = 2.5% monthly (~26% annual) Revenue Churn: $30K / $2M = 1.5% monthly (~17% annual) ``` **Analysis:** Revenue churn < logo churn = losing smaller customers, which is healthy. ### NRR ``` Starting ARR: $24M Expansion: $960K (annual) Churned: $360K (annual) Contraction: $120K (annual) Ending ARR: $24.48M NRR = $24.48M / $24M = 102% ``` ### Quick Ratio ``` Gains = $100K + $80K = $180K Losses = $30K + $10K = $40K Quick Ratio = $180K / $40K = 4.5 ``` --- ## Analysis ### ✅ Strengths **Strong growth:** - 7% MoM MRR growth - Healthy mix: 5% new + 4% expansion **Excellent retention:** - 2.5% logo churn (below 5% threshold) - 1.5% revenue churn (better than logo) - 102% NRR (growing without new logos) **Efficient expansion:** - $80K expansion MRR (4% of base) - Expansion-driven NRR - Average expansion per account: $400/month **Sustainable growth:** - Quick Ratio 4.5 (gains far exceed losses) - Revenue churn declining (was 2% six months ago) - Newer cohorts retain better than older cohorts ### 📊 Opportunities **Expansion room:** - NRR at 102% is good, but room to grow to 110-120% - Only 40% of customers have expanded (could push to 60%) - Cross-sell opportunity: 30% of customers don't use integrations add-on **ARPU optimization:** - $107/user is solid for mid-market, but enterprise segment shows $200/user potential - Could introduce premium tier for advanced features **Reduce churn:** - 2.5% logo churn is acceptable but not excellent - Analysis shows 70% of churn happens in first 90 days (onboarding problem) - Fix: Improve onboarding, aim for <2% logo churn --- ## Actions Recommended 1. **Scale acquisition aggressively** — Unit economics are strong (see `saas-economics-efficiency-metrics` for CAC/LTV) 2. **Improve onboarding** — Reduce early churn from 5% to 3% in first 90 days 3. **Expand cross-sell** — Push integrations add-on to 30% of base without it (potential +$30K MRR) 4. **Test premium tier** — 20 enterprise customers show willingness to pay 2x for advanced features 5. **Monitor cohort retention** — Continue tracking that new cohorts retain better than old --- ## Cohort Retention Trend (Positive Signal) | Cohort | Month 6 Retention | Month 12 Retention | |--------|-------------------|---------------------| | 12 months ago | 85% | 78% | | 6 months ago | 88% | TBD | | Current | 92% (on track) | TBD | **Analysis:** Newer cohorts retaining better = product improvements working. Safe to scale acquisition. # Example: Warning Signs (Leaky Bucket) **Company:** MarketingFlow (SMB marketing automation SaaS) **Stage:** Early growth, post-Seed **Customer Base:** 2,000 accounts, 10,000 users **Period:** Monthly snapshot --- ## Revenue Metrics ### MRR/ARR ``` Starting MRR: $500,000 + New MRR: $100,000 (200 new accounts) + Expansion MRR: $5,000 (minimal upsells) - Churned MRR: $50,000 (120 accounts churned) - Contraction MRR: $10,000 (40 accounts downgraded) Ending MRR: $545,000 MRR Growth Rate: 9% MoM (but driven entirely by new customer acquisition) ARR: $6.5M ``` ### ARPA/ARPU ``` ARPA = $545,000 / 2,00