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Jun 22, 2022Liked by CJ Gustafson

CJ, don’t you think CAC in a vacuum

Is a somewhat incomplete metric. Aka, CLTV paired and measured with CAC tells the real story of the long term growth and longevity of you business. An 8 month CAC payback with a 4 yr CLTV is mathematically less attractive than a 15 month CAC payback with a 9 year CLTV isn’t it? Curious if you agree?

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Wow what a fantastic article - well written and extremely informative. Most importantly, super clear.

I don’t really have a “smart” question to ask here because this isn’t my domain of expertise, so I’ll just say that I learned a lot having gone through this a few times! Really appreciate your work : )

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CJ – I've been trying to think through how to apply some of these standard SaaS calculations to my business, which is a SaaS company but we sell to K12 schools so everything is on an annual basis with the vast majority of bookings happening in Q2 for implementations that all start Aug 1 and last for a standard school year (Aug 1 - July 31). And all churn happens at one point in the year (end of the school year). Given this context, does it even make sense to report CAC-based metrics at, say, a Q1 board meeting given that virtually the entire year's marketing activities are geared towards generating sales in Q2 & Q3? Really enjoy your page – thanks, CJ!

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