Same package, same order, every single quarter, in a trailing nine quarter format so trends and seasonality are visible without anyone doing mental arithmetic. Lead with the ARR bridge (starting ARR, new, expansion, contraction, churn, ending ARR) because that one slide answers most of what a board wants. Then unit economics: CAC payback, net revenue retention, gross margin, ideally split by segment. Then the P&L and cash view with Rule of 40 score and runway. Dave Kellogg's version of this is the template most SaaS boards have converged on. Two rules: never change a definition without flagging it, and open with the bad news, because a board that hears the ugly item from you trusts every other number on the page.
3 hand-picked resources, 3 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.
Why we picked it A former SaaS CEO showing exactly which metrics belong on which slide, in trailing nine quarter format. This is the closest thing to a standard board package and you can copy it as is.
From Kellblog by Dave Kellogg 14 min read
Open kellblog.com →Why we picked it Short, and it does the thing most Rule of 40 explainers skip: it checks the rule against actual public SaaS company histories and shows where the threshold does and does not apply.
From tomtunguz.com by Tomasz Tunguz 4 min read
Open tomtunguz.com →Why we picked it Benchmarks growth, margins, CAC payback and spend allocation at each ARR band, which is what a board is implicitly comparing you against. The most useful single reference for setting next year's targets.
From Bessemer Venture Partners by Mary D'Onofrio and Ethan Ding 40 min read
Open bvp.com →How forecasting and gtm metrics reads from a different seat.
