什么是 SaaS 财务建模？

In the SaaS (software-as-a-service) landscape, financial modeling refers to building different presentations of an organization’s financial performance. This is achieved by either using specialized software or, in the traditional manner, through spreadsheets. 

Financial modeling looks at specific SaaS metrics like Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), churn rate, customer acquisition cost (CAC), and customer lifetime value (LTV) to forecast income. 

For SaaS founders, this method is key to determining future financial outcomes and making business calls based on real data or insights.

Considering that the preferred business model for SaaS products is the subscription pricing strategy, income forecasting forecasting revolves around the concept of recurring revenue. Here are some of the key elements part of the process: 

• User Acquisition: Try to approximate how many customers your SaaS product will gain in a specific timeframe. 
• 客户流失率：估算在同一时间段内有多少用户将取消订阅。 
• 扩展：考虑通过升级、追加销售、交叉销售或附加组件获得的潜在收入。 
• 收缩：评估降级可能造成的收入损失。 

所有这些要点结合起来可以帮助SaaS企业预测收入，并优化定价和预算分配。

当使用财务模型跟踪收入时，SaaS组织应监控以下几个方面 SaaS 指标. 

每月经常性收入（MRR）是一个可靠的基准，用于衡量SaaS公司每月产生的收入。 

另一个需要监控的指标是客户流失率，它表示取消订阅的用户数量。这与客户保留率直接相关，百分比越高，保留率就越低。 

接下来，SaaS 企业需要了解通过以下方式获取新客户的成本是多少 客户获取 客户获取成本 (CAC)。另一方面，分析客户生命周期价值 (LTV) 通过评估客户的预期总收入来显示用户关系的盈利能力。 

消耗率是一个 SaaS 指标，应定期跟踪以确定组织消耗现金的速度。这是一个与初创企业相关的指标。

SaaS pricing optimization 是一项持续的任务，而财务建模可以提供帮助。以下是方法： 

• 尝试不同的情景：测试不同的 定价技巧 和 策略 并评估它们对公司盈利水平的影响。检查在任何测试的情景中，是否产生了更高的收入。 

• Match price points with product value: 收集数据洞察，并考虑转型至 基于价值的定价. Determine your product’s perceived value and align your price with it.
• 评估您的产品成本： To obtain a healthy profit margin, it is important to be aware of your product’s developmental, marketing, and support expenses.

收入确认 必须遵循特定的指导方针，也称为最佳实践，以提供有效的结果。 

Understand and align your revenue recognition process with the widely recognized accounting standard, ASC 606. This is a widely recognized accounting standard. Also, identify contractually established service periods and payment structures. This is key to gaining clarity when forecasting income. 

考虑将收入分摊到服务期间，而不是一次性收取，并使用专用软件来确认收入并实现 SaaS 合规性.