Dive into the intriguing world of the SaaS Quick Ratio, a metric that measures ARR growth efficiency by juxtaposing new ARR against existing customer losses. Uncover its roots in traditional finance and understand how the ideal ratio of over 4 indicates robust growth. Explore the nuances of churn analysis and customer acquisition costs, along with the challenges and advantages of using this metric in the SaaS landscape. Perfect for operators looking to optimize performance and visualize financial health!
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Quick takeaways
The SaaS Quick Ratio is a critical metric that balances new ARR growth against existing customer revenue losses, with a strong ratio indicating health and sustainability.
While the SaaS Quick Ratio offers insights into revenue dynamics, it is often deemed less relevant compared to other operational efficiency metrics like gross revenue retention and CAC ratios.
Deep dives
Understanding the SaaS Quick Ratio
The SaaS Quick Ratio is a metric that evaluates new Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) growth against existing ARR contraction. It is calculated by taking new logo ARR plus expansion ARR and dividing this by the sum of churned ARR and downsell ARR. Despite its name, this metric is often misunderstood, especially when compared to the finance-oriented quick ratio, which assesses a company's ability to meet its short-term obligations. The Quick Ratio in the SaaS context specifically reflects how effectively a company is adding new revenue compared to the revenue it is losing, serving as a useful barometer for growth sustainability.
Benchmarking the SaaS Quick Ratio
A strong SaaS Quick Ratio is generally considered to be 4 or higher, indicating that a company is successfully adding four units of new ARR for every unit of revenue lost. Ratios below one signal serious sustainability issues, as they imply that churn is outweighing new sales. Ratios between one and four indicate growth potential but suggest that inefficiencies exist that need addressing. This metric can help gauge a business's health, and its benchmarks are frequently discussed among SaaS experts, although there's a recognition that different types of SaaS businesses may have varying expectations based on their market and customer segments.
Limitations and Alternatives to the Quick Ratio
While the SaaS Quick Ratio provides insights into revenue dynamics, many experts argue that it is not a core efficiency metric and can be less relevant in practice. Operators often prefer using metrics such as new ARR, gross revenue retention, and customer acquisition cost (CAC) ratios to assess efficiency and operational health. The Quick Ratio may be valuable for certain analyses, especially when visualized in charts, but it is often relegated to a supplementary role in a broader set of financial and operational metrics. Ultimately, identifying the underlying factors driving churn and growth is crucial for effectively managing a SaaS business, rather than solely relying on any single metric.
In this episode, Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike discuss the SaaS Quick Ratio, a SaaS metric first introduced in 2015 with the goal to measure ARR growth efficiency by comparing New ARR growth versus existing customer ARR contraction.
The SaaS Quick Ratio borrows a concept used in general finance known as the "Quick Ratio" - which measures a company's ability to pay it's current liabilities.
The formula used to calculate the SaaS Quick Ratio is:
(New Logo ARR + Expansion ARR)/ (Churned ARR + Down-Sell ARR)
Traditional wisdom says a SaaS Quick Ratio above 4 is good, between 1-4 is ok but beware that ARR growth is not as efficient as it should be and less than 1 is highly inefficient growth - an ARR leaky bucket!
If you are a SaaS operator and looking for an easy metric to calculate that quickly highlights ARR growth efficiency as measured by the ratio of New ARR versus Lost ARR - The SaaS Quick Ratio may be for you.
Listen to the entire episode to hear CAC and Growth discuss the nuances of the SaaS Quick Ratio!