Bookings

The total value of contracts customers have committed to, signed but not necessarily paid or delivered yet. A forward-looking measure of sales.

Why it matters

Bookings show demand and sales momentum before it shows up as revenue. Confusing bookings with revenue is a common way founders overstate a business, so keep the two clearly separate.

For example

The sales team closes 40 lakh of new annual contracts in Q1; that is bookings, money committed but not yet invoiced or earned.

Worth your time

16 More Startup Metrics a16z · article Bookings is defined here among the core startup metrics investors actually track, with how to read it honestly. Open a16z.com →

Related terms

Go deeper

See how founders actually handle this on Money, pricing and metrics, part of the Starting Up hub.

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