Growth Rate (YoY)

Annual Recurring Revenue — the value of all recurring subscription revenue normalized to a one-year run-rate as of the period close. The headline operating metric for a subscription business; every growth and efficiency ratio (NRR, GRR, magic number, CAC payback, Rule of 40) is calibrated against it. Excludes one-time fees, professional services, and non-contractual usage. Common pitfall: confusing ARR (contracted recurring) with revenue (recognized) or with CARR (contracted incl. not-yet-live) — the SMSB standard draws sharp lines between them, and boards expect the same discipline. The KpiVarianceTable widget surfaces forecast / actual / variance / status / future-forecast columns against the same field.

Annualized recurring revenue booked from net-new logos (first-time customers) during the period. This is the "hunt" line of the ARR waterfall — the output of the new-customer acquisition motion, distinct from expansion (existing-customer upsell) and from churn / downgrades. Common pitfall: counting renewals or expansion deals as new business inflates the new-logo conversion engine and hides a stalled acquisition motion. The KpiVarianceTable widget shows period forecast vs actual; downstream views compare it to S&M spend to derive new-business CAC and CAC payback.

Annualized recurring revenue added during the period from existing customers — through upsell (more seats / higher tier), cross-sell (additional products), or price increases. The "farm" line of the ARR waterfall. Boards read this as the leading indicator that product-market fit has translated into product-account fit and that the post-sale motion is creating compound growth. Common pitfall: classifying contractual price-step-ups (CPI escalators baked into the original contract) as expansion overstates new selling motion. Expansion CAC Ratio and Net Revenue Retention are derived from this number.

Annualized recurring revenue lost during the period from customers who fully cancelled — terminating their contract or letting it lapse without renewal. The "leak" line of the ARR waterfall and the denominator of Gross Revenue Retention. Distinct from Downgrade ARR (sales.downgrades) which captures contractions where the customer stays. Common pitfall: lumping mid-term cancellations with non-renewals masks two very different retention failures — surface them separately when material. The KpiVarianceTable widget tracks period forecast vs actual; a widening miss against forecast is the earliest signal of a retention problem.

Composite SaaS health score that sums the company's revenue growth rate and a profitability proxy (commonly EBITDA margin or free-cash-flow margin) into a single percentage. Originally articulated by Brad Feld in 2015 and codified by the SaaS Metrics Standards Board, the rule frames the growth-vs-profitability tradeoff: a company growing at 60% with a −20% margin scores 40, equal to a company growing at 20% with a +20% margin. The board reads it to sanity-check whether growth is being bought at unhealthy burn or whether margin discipline is constraining growth too far. Common pitfall: which profitability proxy is used materially changes the score (FCF margin is the strictest, EBITDA more flattering, "operating margin" inconsistently defined), so pick one and disclose it next to the number.

Recognized revenue minus cost of goods sold (COGS), divided by recognized revenue, expressed as a percentage. The single best read on whether the business model can ever generate operating leverage — a low gross margin caps every downstream efficiency metric (CAC payback, LTV/CAC, Rule of 40). For SaaS, COGS includes hosting, third-party software, customer support, and customer-success cost-of-service. Common pitfall: omitting customer success from COGS inflates the margin and breaks comparability with peer benchmarks. Anchored to KBCM/Sapphire SaaS Survey 2024 §Gross Margin.