Tracking your metrics and being focused on proper frameworks for growth is crucial to success in SaaS and software. Yet, you can very easily "boil the ocean" by overcomplicating the model through which you're measuring your different metrics. Ezra Dishman, Director of Business Intelligence at Wistia, walks through how over the life of Wistia they've adjusted how they've calculated lifetime value (LTV) and customer acquisition cost (CAC), particularly in the early days when they knew the number wasn't completely accurate.

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Spheres of Diminishing Lies
Modeling CAC and LTV

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Quick Chemistry Detour
Rutherford Model

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Quick Chemistry Detour
Rutherford Model Bohr Model

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Quick Chemistry Detour
Rutherford Model Bohr Model Quantum Model

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Modeling CAC and LTV

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Modeling CAC and LTV
Simple + Full of Lies
Model 1

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Modeling CAC and LTV
Simple + Full of Lies
Model 1
CAC
• How much did we spend in sales + marketing
this month?
• How many new customers did we gain this
month?
LTV
• What’s ARPC across all our customers?
• What’s our churn rate (customer #) this month?
• What’s our rough gross margin?

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Modeling CAC and LTV
Simple + Full of Lies
Model 1
Complex + Fewer Lies
Model 8

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Modeling CAC and LTV
Complex + Fewer Lies
Model 8

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Modeling CAC and LTV
Complex + Fewer Lies
Model 8
Dimensions to add
• Acquisition channels
• Customer segments
• Time

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