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The SaaS CFO

2 resources from The SaaS CFO we point founders to, and the questions each answers.

📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it Before you spend down your cushion on growth, you need to know how long it takes to earn that money back, and this is the clearest practitioner walk-through of the CAC payback calculation. Murray, a working SaaS CFO, uses gross margin (not just revenue) so the number is honest, and he pushes you to benchmark by deal size rather than chasing one magic figure. He is also blunt that the formula ignores churn, which is exactly the discipline you want when deciding if a bigger sales spend is safe.

How I Calculate the CAC Payback Period

From The SaaS CFO by Ben Murray About a 10 minute read

  • CAC Payback = CAC divided by the monthly gross margin dollars a new customer generates, so margin matters as much as revenue.
  • There is no universal healthy number: judge it against your own contract sizes, since bigger deals fairly carry longer paybacks.
  • The plain formula hides churn and the time value of money, so a short payback on paper can still be a bad bet.
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Answers When should a profitable bootstrapped company deliberately spend down its cushion to grow faster, and when is that just gambling?
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it This is written by a working SaaS CFO (Ben Murray, CPA), so it explains deferred revenue and accrual recognition in the exact terms your future accountant and investors will use. It walks through a $12,000 annual contract becoming $1,000 of recognized revenue per month, the clearest way to see why cash in the bank is not the same as revenue earned. Treat it as a starting point, then decide with your accountant when you actually need to switch your books over.

Guide to SaaS Revenue Recognition and Deferred Revenue in SaaS

From The SaaS CFO by Ben Murray ~15 min read

  • A prepaid annual subscription sits on the balance sheet as deferred revenue (a liability) and gets recognized month by month as you deliver the service.
  • Cash received and recognized revenue can look very different, which is why the distinction matters once you report numbers to anyone.
  • ASC 606 and IFRS 15 give a five-step framework, but the intuition (recognize as you deliver) is what a starting SaaS founder needs first.
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Answers Do I need to understand accrual accounting and things like deferred revenue, or is cash-basis enough for a SaaS just starting out?