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Money, pricing & model

Unit economics & modeling

Know what a customer costs and earns.

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How do I calculate CAC (customer acquisition cost) and LTV? CAC = total sales and marketing spend divided by new customers acquired in that period, count everything, not just ad spend. LTV = the profit (not ... Intermediate 3 resources → My CAC looks great but I paid for it with a founder-led discount. How do I know my unit economics without the promo? Discounts and founder hustle hide your real acquisition cost, so run two versions: the promo number and the number when a stranger buys at list pri... Intermediate 2 resources → How do I estimate LTV when I have only three months of data and no idea what my real churn or retention curve is yet? With three months of data you cannot compute a trustworthy LTV, so stop trying to project lifetime and instead track a shorter window you can actua... Advanced 3 resources → I sell a one-time product, not a subscription. Do unit economics and LTV even apply to me? They absolutely apply, but LTV comes from repeat purchases and referrals rather than a subscription, so your key questions become purchase frequenc... Intermediate 2 resources → What are the most common mistakes founders make when they build their first unit economics model? The classic traps are using blended CAC to hide bad paid channels, ignoring the cost to serve and support, assuming churn stays flat forever, and t... Intermediate 2 resources → How should I think about pricing so my unit economics actually work, instead of guessing a number and hoping? Price off the value you create and the economics you need, not off your costs or a competitor's list price, and then check that the resulting contr... Intermediate 3 resources → My unit economics work on a spreadsheet but I'm bleeding cash every month. Why the disconnect and what do I fix first? Positive unit economics per customer can still coexist with a cash crunch because fixed costs (salaries, tools, rent) and the timing gap between sp... Intermediate 3 resources →
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