unit-economics

Compare original and translation side by side

🇺🇸

Original

English
🇨🇳

Translation

Chinese

Unit Economics Analysis

单位经济分析

Workflow

工作流程

Step 1: Identify Business Model

步骤1:确定商业模式

Determine the revenue model to tailor the analysis:
  • SaaS / Subscription: ARR, net retention, cohorts
  • Recurring services: Contract value, renewal rates, upsell
  • Transaction / usage-based: Revenue per transaction, volume trends, take rate
  • Hybrid: Break down by revenue stream
确定收入模式以定制分析方案:
  • SaaS / 订阅制:ARR、净留存率、群组分析
  • 经常性服务:合同价值、续约率、追加销售
  • 交易/基于使用量:每笔交易收入、交易量趋势、抽成率
  • 混合模式:按收入细分拆解

Step 2: Core Metrics

步骤2:核心指标

ARR / Revenue Quality

ARR / 收入质量

  • ARR bridge: Beginning ARR → New → Expansion → Contraction → Churn → Ending ARR
  • ARR by cohort: Vintage analysis — how does each annual cohort retain and grow?
  • Revenue concentration: Top 10/20/50 customers as % of total
  • Revenue by type: Recurring vs. non-recurring vs. professional services
  • Contract structure: ACV distribution, multi-year %, auto-renewal %
  • ARR桥梁分析:期初ARR → 新增 → 扩张 → 收缩 → 流失 → 期末ARR
  • 按群组划分的ARR:世代分析——每个年度群组的留存和增长情况如何?
  • 收入集中度:前10/20/50大客户收入占总收入的百分比
  • 收入类型:经常性收入 vs. 非经常性收入 vs. 专业服务收入
  • 合同结构:ACV(年度合同价值)分布、多年期合同占比、自动续约占比

Customer Economics

客户经济指标

  • CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): Total S&M spend / new customers acquired
  • LTV (Lifetime Value): (ARPU × Gross Margin) / Churn Rate
  • LTV:CAC ratio: Target >3x for healthy businesses
  • CAC payback period: Months to recover acquisition cost
  • Blended vs. segmented: Break down by customer segment (enterprise vs. SMB vs. mid-market)
  • CAC(客户获取成本):总销售与营销投入 / 新增客户数量
  • LTV(客户终身价值):(ARPU × 毛利率) / 流失率
  • LTV:CAC比率:健康企业的目标值>3倍
  • CAC回收期:收回获取成本所需的月数
  • 混合vs.细分:按客户细分拆解(企业级 vs. 中小企业 vs. 中端市场)

Retention & Expansion

留存与扩张

  • Gross retention: % of beginning ARR retained (excludes expansion)
  • Net retention (NDR): % of beginning ARR retained including expansion
  • Logo churn: % of customers lost
  • Dollar churn: % of revenue lost (often different from logo churn)
  • Expansion rate: Upsell + cross-sell as % of beginning ARR
  • 毛留存率:期初ARR的留存百分比(不含扩张收入)
  • 净留存率(NDR):包含扩张收入的期初ARR留存百分比
  • 客户流失率:流失客户的百分比
  • 收入流失率:流失收入的百分比(通常与客户流失率不同)
  • 扩张率:追加销售+交叉销售占期初ARR的百分比

Cohort Analysis

群组分析

Build a cohort matrix showing:
CohortYear 0Year 1Year 2Year 3Year 4
2020$1.0M$1.1M$1.2M$1.1M
2021$1.5M$1.7M$1.8M
2022$2.0M$2.3M
2023$3.0M
Show both absolute $ and indexed (Year 0 = 100%) views.
构建群组矩阵展示:
Cohort第0年第1年第2年第3年第4年
2020年$1.0M$1.1M$1.2M$1.1M
2021年$1.5M$1.7M$1.8M
2022年$2.0M$2.3M
2023年$3.0M
同时展示绝对金额和指数化(第0年=100%)两种视图。

Margin Waterfall

利润瀑布分析

  • Revenue → Gross Profit → Contribution Margin → EBITDA
  • Fully loaded unit economics: what does it cost to acquire, serve, and retain a customer?
  • Gross margin by revenue stream (subscription vs. services vs. other)
  • 收入 → 毛利润 → 贡献毛利 → EBITDA
  • 全成本单位经济:获取、服务和留存客户的总成本是多少?
  • 各收入流的毛利率(订阅 vs. 服务 vs. 其他)

Step 3: Benchmarking

步骤3:基准对比

Compare unit economics to relevant benchmarks:
  • SaaS Rule of 40: Growth rate + EBITDA margin > 40%
  • SaaS Magic Number: Net new ARR / prior period S&M spend > 0.75x
  • NDR benchmarks: Best-in-class >120%, good >110%, concerning <100%
  • LTV:CAC: Best-in-class >5x, good >3x, concerning <2x
  • Gross retention: Best-in-class >95%, good >90%, concerning <85%
  • CAC payback: Best-in-class <12mo, good <18mo, concerning >24mo
将单位经济指标与相关基准进行对比:
  • SaaS Rule of 40:增长率 + EBITDA利润率 > 40%
  • SaaS Magic Number:新增净ARR / 前期销售与营销投入 > 0.75倍
  • NDR基准:行业顶尖水平>120%,良好水平>110%,预警水平<100%
  • LTV:CAC:行业顶尖水平>5倍,良好水平>3倍,预警水平<2倍
  • 毛留存率:行业顶尖水平>95%,良好水平>90%,预警水平<85%
  • CAC回收期:行业顶尖水平<12个月,良好水平<18个月,预警水平>24个月

Step 4: Revenue Quality Score

步骤4:收入质量评分

Synthesize into a revenue quality assessment:
FactorScore (1-5)Notes
Recurring %
Net retention
Customer concentration
Cohort stability
Growth durability
Margin profile
Overall
综合评估收入质量:
因素评分(1-5)备注
经常性收入占比
净留存率
客户集中度
群组稳定性
增长持续性
利润结构
总体评分

Step 5: Output

步骤5:输出成果

  • Excel workbook with ARR bridge, cohort matrix, unit economics dashboard
  • Summary slide with key metrics and benchmarks
  • Red flags and areas for further diligence
  • 包含ARR桥梁分析、群组矩阵、单位经济仪表盘的Excel工作簿
  • 展示关键指标与基准对比的总结幻灯片
  • 风险预警及需进一步尽职调查的领域

Important Notes

重要提示

  • Always ask for raw customer-level data if available — aggregate metrics can hide problems
  • NDR above 100% can mask high gross churn if expansion is strong enough — always show both
  • Cohort analysis is the single most important view for revenue quality — push for this data
  • Differentiate between contracted ARR and actual recognized revenue
  • For usage-based models, focus on consumption trends and expansion patterns rather than traditional ARR metrics
  • Professional services revenue should be evaluated separately — it's not recurring and margins are typically lower
  • 如果有条件,务必获取客户层面的原始数据——汇总指标可能掩盖问题
  • 若追加销售表现强劲,NDR高于100%可能掩盖高毛流失率——需同时展示两者
  • 群组分析是评估收入质量最重要的视角——务必获取相关数据
  • 区分合同约定ARR与实际确认收入
  • 对于基于使用量的模式,重点关注消费趋势和扩张模式,而非传统ARR指标
  • 专业服务收入需单独评估——其不属于经常性收入,且利润率通常较低