Bookings ≠ Revenue:一个是合同,一个是已交付
"Bookings is the value of a contract between the company and the customer… Revenue is recognized when the service is actually provided or ratably over the life of the subscription agreement."
"How and when revenue is recognized is governed by GAAP. Letters of intent and verbal agreements are neither revenue nor bookings."
合同签了 = bookings,服务真正交付才能记 revenue。意向书、口头承诺两个都不算。GAAP 在这里有强约束。
投资人优先看 product revenue,不是 services revenue
"Investors more highly value companies where the majority of total revenue comes from product revenue (vs. from services). Why? Services revenue is non-recurring, has much lower margins, and is less scalable."
"ARR (annual recurring revenue) is a measure of revenue components that are recurring in nature. It should exclude one-time (non-recurring) fees and professional service fees."
服务费不重复、毛利低、不可规模化——所以即便总营收一样,product-led 的公司估值溢价远高于 services-led。算 ARR/MRR 时一次性硬件费、安装费、咨询费全部要剔除。
LTV 要用 contribution margin 算,不是 revenue 或 gross margin
"A common mistake is to estimate the LTV as a present value of revenue or even gross margin of the customer instead of calculating it as net profit of the customer over the life of the relationship."
"Contribution Margin LTV to CAC ratio is also a good measure to determine CAC payback and manage your advertising and marketing spend accordingly. See also Bill Gurley on the 'dangerous seductions' of the lifetime value formula."
用 revenue 算 LTV 会得到一个虚高的"我能花多少钱拉新"上限。Bill Gurley 在另一篇里专门警告过这个陷阱——LTV/CAC 必须用 contribution margin,扣掉所有变动成本之后再算。
GMV ≠ Revenue:这是 marketplace 的命门
"GMV is the total sales dollar volume of merchandise transacting through the marketplace… Revenue is the portion of GMV that the marketplace 'takes'. These fees are usually a fraction of GMV."
"In marketplace businesses, these are frequently used interchangeably. But GMV does not equal revenue!"
Marketplace 公司最喜欢拿 GMV 充门面。但你只能记到 take rate × GMV 这部分作为 revenue——take rate 通常是 GMV 的零头(5-15%)。把这两个数当一回事就是误导投资人。
Billings 比 Revenue 更能预测 SaaS 公司的未来
"Billings is a much better forward-looking indicator of the health of a SaaS company than simply looking at revenue because revenue understates the true value of the customer, which gets recognized ratably."
"A SaaS company could show stable revenue for a long time — just by working off its billings backlog — which would make the business seem healthier than it truly is."
Billings = 本季度 revenue + 递延收入净增。前者看眼下,后者看未来。一家 SaaS 可以靠"消化 billings 储备"在停止签新单后,仍维持 revenue 数字稳定一段时间——这是个陷阱信号。
Paid CAC 比 Blended CAC 重要得多
"This is why investors consider paid CAC [total acquisition cost / new customers acquired through paid marketing] to be more important than blended CAC in evaluating the viability of a business — it informs whether a company can scale up its user acquisition budget profitably."
"Counterintuitively, it turns out that costs typically go up as you try and reach a larger audience. So it might cost you $1 to acquire your first 1,000 users, $2 to acquire your next 10,000, and $5 to $10 to acquire your next 100,000."
Blended CAC 用免费/自然量稀释了真实数字。投资人看的是"你加钱投放,还能不能保持划算"——这就要看 paid CAC。而且 paid CAC 通常随规模 5-10x 上升,所以不能简单外推。
用 CMGR,不是简单算术平均 MoM
"Often this measured as the simple average of monthly growth rates. But investors often prefer to measure it as CMGR (Compounded Monthly Growth Rate)… The CMGR will be smaller than the simple average in a growing business."
"Using CMGR [CMGR = (Latest Month/ First Month)^(1/# of Months) -1] also helps you benchmark growth rates with other companies."
CMGR 是月度版的 CAGR——同 Sacks 后来强调的算法相同。增长生意中,简单算术平均一定大于 CMGR——用前者会高估增长。
Gross churn 才是真实损失,net churn 在掩饰
"The difference between the two is significant. Gross churn estimates the actual loss to the business, while net revenue churn understates the losses (as it blends upsells with absolute churn)."
"Gross churn: MRR lost in a given month/MRR at the beginning of the month. Net churn: (MRR lost minus MRR from upsells) in a given month/MRR at the beginning of the month."
Net churn = Sacks 后来推崇的 NRR 的反面表达。要分开看:gross 告诉你"漏出去多少",net 告诉你"扩展能不能补回来"。光看 net 就是用 expansion 在掩盖真实流失。
Net burn 比 gross burn 更说明现金跑道
"Net burn… is the true measure of amount of cash your company is burning every month. Gross burn on the other hand only looks at your monthly expenses + any other cash outlays."
"Investors tend to focus on net burn to understand how long the money you have left in the bank will last for you to run the company. They will also take into account the rate at which your revenues and expenses grow as monthly burn may not be a constant number."
Gross burn 只看支出,忽略收入。Net burn 把"高确定性"收入计入,反映真实跑道。Runway 算法要看 net burn 而不是 gross burn——但要注意收入和支出都是动态的,直接除得到的月份数往往偏乐观。
Downloads / 累计图 都是 vanity metric
"Downloads (or number of apps delivered by distribution deals) are really just a vanity metric… Cumulative charts by definition always go up and to the right for any business that is showing any kind of activity. But they are not a valid measure of growth — they can go up-and-to-the-right even when a business is shrinking."
"Investors want to see engagement, ideally expressed as cohort retention on metrics that matter for that business — for example, DAU, MAU, photos shared, photos viewed, and so on."
下载量、累计图、不打 Y 轴标签——这些都是制造"上行错觉"的工具。投资人想看月度增长、cohort 留存、活跃度——任何"只会上"的图都是红旗。
We have the privilege of meeting with thousands of entrepreneurs every year, and in the course of those discussions are presented with all kinds of numbers, measures, and metrics that illustrate the promise and health of a particular company.
我们每年有幸跟数千位创业者会面——在这些对话中,我们会看到形形色色的数字、衡量方式和指标,用来说明一家公司的前景和健康度。
Sometimes, however, the metrics may not be the best gauge of what's actually happening in the business, or people may use different definitions of the same metric in a way that makes it hard to understand the health of the business.
但有时候,这些指标并不能很好地反映生意里真实发生了什么——或者大家用着"同一个指标名"却各自有不同的定义,这让评估生意健康度变得很困难。
So, while some of this may be obvious to many of you who live and breathe these metrics all day long, we compiled a list of the most common or confusing ones.
所以,虽然下面这些内容对每天泡在这些指标里的人可能很显然,我们还是把最常见、最容易搞混的几个整理成了一份清单。
Where appropriate, we tried to add some notes on why investors focus on those metrics.
在合适的地方,我们也补充了"为什么投资人会盯着这些指标"的注解。
Ultimately, though, good metrics aren't about raising money from VCs — they're about running the business in a way where founders know how and why certain things are working (or not) … and can address or adjust accordingly.
但归根到底——好指标不是为了向 VC 融资,而是为了让创始人能知道生意的哪一块为什么在跑通、为什么在卡住,然后据此调整。
A common mistake is to use bookings and revenue interchangeably, but they aren't the same thing.
一个常见的错误,是把 bookings 和 revenue 当作同一个东西用——但它们不是。
Bookings is the value of a contract between the company and the customer.
Bookings 是公司和客户之间合同的价值。
It reflects a contractual obligation on the part of the customer to pay the company.
它反映的是客户对公司"该付钱"的合同义务。
Revenue is recognized when the service is actually provided or ratably over the life of the subscription agreement.
Revenue 则是在服务真正交付时确认,或在订阅合同期内按比例摊到每期里。
How and when revenue is recognized is governed by GAAP.
什么时候、按什么方式确认 revenue,受 GAAP(公认会计准则)规范。
Letters of intent and verbal agreements are neither revenue nor bookings.
意向书(LOI)和口头协议——既不算 revenue,也不算 bookings。
Investors more highly value companies where the majority of total revenue comes from product revenue (vs. from services).
投资人会给"总收入大部分来自产品收入(而不是服务收入)"的公司更高的估值。
Why? Services revenue is non-recurring, has much lower margins, and is less scalable.
为什么?服务收入不重复、毛利低得多、也难以规模化。
Product revenue is the what you generate from the sale of the software or product itself.
产品收入,是你卖软件或产品本身赚到的钱。
ARR (annual recurring revenue) is a measure of revenue components that are recurring in nature.
ARR(年度经常性收入)衡量的是收入里"具有重复性"的那部分。
It should exclude one-time (non-recurring) fees and professional service fees.
它必须剔除一次性(非重复性)收费和专业服务费。
ARR per customer: Is this flat or growing?
每客户 ARR:是平的还是在增长?
If you are upselling or cross-selling your customers, then it should be growing, which is a positive indicator for a healthy business.
如果你在向客户 upsell 或 cross-sell,这个数应该在增长——这是健康生意的正向信号。
MRR (monthly recurring revenue): Often, people will multiply one month's all-in bookings by 12 to get to ARR.
MRR(月度经常性收入):很多人会把某一个月的"全部 bookings × 12"当成 ARR。
Common mistakes with this method include: (1) counting non-recurring fees such as hardware, setup, installation, professional services/ consulting agreements; (2) counting bookings (see #1).
这种算法常见的两个错误:(1)把硬件、设置费、安装费、专业服务/咨询合同这些一次性收费也算进去;(2)把 bookings 当 revenue(见第 1 条)。
While top-line bookings growth is super important, investors want to understand how profitable that revenue stream is.
顶线 bookings 增长当然非常重要,但投资人还想搞清楚:这条收入流到底有多赚钱。
Gross profit provides that measure.
毛利就是衡量这件事的指标。
What's included in gross profit may vary by company, but in general all costs associated with the manufacturing, delivery, and support of a product/service should be included.
"毛利里包含什么"会因公司而异——但一般来说,与制造、交付、支持一个产品/服务相关的所有成本都该计入。
So be prepared to break down what's included in—and excluded—from that gross profit figure.
所以要做好准备:讲清楚你的毛利里"装了什么"、"没装什么"。
TCV (total contract value) is the total value of the contract, and can be shorter or longer in duration.
TCV(Total Contract Value,合同总值)是整个合同的总价值——合同周期可以比一年短,也可以比一年长。
Make sure TCV also includes the value from one-time charges, professional service fees, and recurring charges.
注意:TCV 要把一次性收费、专业服务费和重复性收费都加进去。
ACV (annual contract value), on the other hand, measures the value of the contract over a 12-month period.
ACV(Annual Contract Value,年合同价值)则衡量合同在 12 个月窗口内的价值。
Questions to ask about ACV:
关于 ACV 要问的两个问题:
What is the size? Are you getting a few hundred dollars per month from your customers, or are you able to close large deals?
客单价多大?你的客户每月就付几百美元,还是你能签下大单?
Of course, this depends on the market you are targeting (SMB vs. mid-market vs. enterprise).
这当然取决于你瞄的市场(SMB / 中等市场 / 企业级)。
Is it growing (and especially not shrinking)?
它在增长吗?(尤其不要在缩水)
If it's growing, it means customers are paying you more on average for your product over time.
如果在增长,说明客户随时间平均给你付的钱在变多。
That implies either your product is fundamentally doing more (adding features and capabilities) to warrant that increase, or is delivering so much value customers (improved functionality over alternatives) that they are willing to pay more for it.
这意味着两件事之一:要么你的产品在做更多事(加功能、加能力),所以涨价站得住脚;要么它给客户提供的价值远超替代品,客户愿意为此多付。
See also this post on ACV.
关于 ACV 的更多讨论见这篇。
Lifetime value is the present value of the future net profit from the customer over the duration of the relationship.
客户生命周期价值,是这个客户在你和他/她整个关系期内带来的未来净利润的现值。
It helps determine the long-term value of the customer and how much net value you generate per customer after accounting for customer acquisition costs (CAC).
它帮你判断:这个客户长期值多少钱,以及在扣除 CAC 之后你从单个客户身上能拿到多少净价值。
A common mistake is to estimate the LTV as a present value of revenue or even gross margin of the customer instead of calculating it as net profit of the customer over the life of the relationship.
一个常见错误,是用客户的"收入现值"甚至"毛利现值"来估 LTV——而不是用整个关系期内的净利润来算。
Reminder, here's a way to calculate LTV:
提醒一下,这里是 LTV 的一种算法:
· Revenue per customer (per month) = average order value multiplied by the number of orders.
· Contribution margin per customer (per month) = revenue from customer minus variable costs associated with a customer. Variable costs include selling, administrative and any operational costs associated with serving the customer.
· Avg. life span of customer (in months) = 1 / by your monthly churn.
· LTV = Contribution margin from customer multiplied by the average lifespan of customer.
· 每客户月收入 = 平均订单价值 × 订单数
· 每客户月 contribution margin = 客户带来的收入 − 与服务该客户相关的所有变动成本(销售、管理、运营成本)
· 客户平均生命周期(月数)= 1 / 月度流失率
· LTV = 每客户 contribution margin × 平均生命周期
Note, if you have only few months of data, the conservative way to measure LTV is to look at historical value to date.
注意:如果你只有几个月数据,衡量 LTV 的保守方法是只看截至今天的历史价值。
Rather than predicting average life span and estimating how the retention curves might look, we prefer to measure 12 month and 24 month LTV.
与其去预测平均生命周期、推测留存曲线长什么样,我们更喜欢直接衡量 12 个月和 24 个月的 LTV。
Another important calculation here is LTV as it contributes to margin.
这里另一个重要的算法,是"LTV 对毛利的贡献"。
This is important because a revenue or gross margin LTV suggests a higher upper limit on what you can spend on customer acquisition.
这很重要,因为如果你用 revenue 或 gross margin 算 LTV,会得到一个虚高的"获客能花多少钱"上限。
Contribution Margin LTV to CAC ratio is also a good measure to determine CAC payback and manage your advertising and marketing spend accordingly.
Contribution Margin LTV / CAC 比也是判断 CAC 回收期、管理广告与市场支出的好指标。
See also Bill Gurley on the "dangerous seductions" of the lifetime value formula.
关于 LTV 公式的"危险的诱惑",见 Bill Gurley 的这篇专文。
In marketplace businesses, these are frequently used interchangeably.
在 marketplace 业务里,这两个词经常被混用。
But GMV does not equal revenue!
但 GMV 不等于 revenue!
GMV (gross merchandise volume) is the total sales dollar volume of merchandise transacting through the marketplace in a specific period.
GMV(Gross Merchandise Volume,交易总额)是某一段时间内,通过该 marketplace 成交的商品的总美元金额。
It's the real top line, what the consumer side of the marketplace is spending.
它是真正意义上的"顶线",代表消费者端在 marketplace 上花了多少钱。
It is a useful measure of the size of the marketplace and can be useful as a "current run rate" measure based on annualizing the most recent month or quarter.
它是衡量 marketplace 规模的有用指标,而且可以把最近的月度或季度年化,用作"当前 run rate"参考。
Revenue is the portion of GMV that the marketplace "takes".
Revenue 是 marketplace 从 GMV 中"抽走"的那一部分。
Revenue consists of the various fees that the marketplace gets for providing its services; most typically these are transaction fees based on GMV successfully transacted on the marketplace, but can also include ad revenue, sponsorships, etc.
Revenue 由 marketplace 为提供服务收取的各类费用构成——最常见的是基于成交 GMV 的交易抽成,也可能包括广告收入、赞助收入等。
These fees are usually a fraction of GMV.
这些费用通常只占 GMV 的一小部分。
In a SaaS business, this is the cash you collect at the time of the booking in advance of when the revenues will actually be realized.
在 SaaS 生意里,这指的是"签单时收到的现金"——它远早于 revenue 真正被确认的时间。
As we've shared previously, SaaS companies only get to recognize revenue over the term of the deal as the service is delivered — even if a customer signs a huge up-front deal.
我们之前讲过:SaaS 公司只能随着服务交付,在合同期内逐期确认 revenue——即便客户一次性签了一份大单。
So in most cases, that "booking" goes onto the balance sheet in a liability line item called deferred revenue.
所以大多数情况下,这笔"booking"会作为一个负债项目记到资产负债表上——叫"deferred revenue(递延收入)"。
(Because the balance sheet has to "balance," the corresponding entry on the assets side of the balance sheet is "cash" if the customer pre-paid for the service or "accounts receivable" if the company expects to bill for and receive it in the future).
(因为资产负债表必须"平衡",资产那一边对应的科目是:客户已预付的话记"cash(现金)",尚未收的话记"accounts receivable(应收账款)"。)
As the company starts to recognize revenue from the software as service, it reduces its deferred revenue balance and increases revenue: for a 24-month deal, as each month goes by deferred revenue drops by 1/24th and revenue increases by 1/24th.
当公司开始确认 SaaS 服务的 revenue 时,递延收入相应减少,revenue 相应增加——24 个月的合同,每过一个月,递延收入减少 1/24,revenue 增加 1/24。
A good proxy to measure the growth — and ultimately the health — of a SaaS company is to look at billings, which is calculated by taking the revenue in one quarter and adding the change in deferred revenue from the prior quarter to the current quarter.
衡量 SaaS 公司增长——以及最终健康度——的一个好代理指标是 billings:本季度 revenue + 上季度到本季度递延收入的净变化。
If a SaaS company is growing its bookings (whether through new business or upsells/renewals to existing customers), billings will increase.
如果一家 SaaS 公司的 bookings 在增长——不论来自新客户、existing 客户的 upsell 还是续约——billings 都会上升。
Billings is a much better forward-looking indicator of the health of a SaaS company than simply looking at revenue because revenue understates the true value of the customer, which gets recognized ratably.
Billings 比单纯看 revenue 更能预示 SaaS 公司的健康度——因为 revenue 会低估客户的真实价值(后者被分摊到多期里逐步确认)。
But it's also tricky because of the very nature of recurring revenue itself: A SaaS company could show stable revenue for a long time — just by working off its billings backlog — which would make the business seem healthier than it truly is.
但 billings 本身也有"陷阱":由于经常性收入的本质,一家 SaaS 公司即便停止新签,也可以靠"消化 billings 储备"在 revenue 上保持稳定——让生意看上去比实际更健康。
This is something we therefore watch out for when evaluating the unit economics of such businesses.
所以我们在评估此类公司的 unit economics 时,会特别留意这一点。
Customer acquisition cost or CAC should be the full cost of acquiring users, stated on a per user basis.
CAC(客户获取成本)应当是获取用户的全部成本——以"每用户"为单位陈述。
Unfortunately, CAC metrics come in all shapes and sizes.
不幸的是,CAC 这个指标在各家公司有各种各样的算法。
One common problem with CAC metrics is failing to include all the costs incurred in user acquisition such as referral fees, credits, or discounts.
CAC 算法一个常见问题,是没把所有获客相关成本都算进去——比如推荐费、credits、折扣。
Another common problem is to calculate CAC as a "blended" cost (including users acquired organically) rather than isolating users acquired through "paid" marketing.
另一个常见问题,是把 CAC 算成"混合"成本——把自然获客也算进去——而不是单独算"付费投放"带来的用户。
While blended CAC [total acquisition cost / total new customers acquired across all channels] isn't wrong, it doesn't inform how well your paid campaigns are working and whether they're profitable.
Blended CAC(总获客成本 / 所有渠道新客户数)本身不是错的,但它不能告诉你"付费投放跑得怎么样、是否赚钱"。
This is why investors consider paid CAC to be more important than blended CAC in evaluating the viability of a business — it informs whether a company can scale up its user acquisition budget profitably.
这就是为什么评估一家公司是否跑得通,投资人更看 Paid CAC 而不是 Blended CAC——前者告诉你:加大获客预算,公司还能不能赚钱地扩张。
While an argument can be made in some cases that paid acquisition contributes to organic acquisition, one would need to demonstrate proof of that effect to put weight on blended CAC.
某些情况下可以论证"付费获客也带动了自然获客"——但要让 blended CAC 有分量,需要拿出这种"溢出效应"的证据。
Many investors do like seeing both, however: the blended number as well as the CAC, broken out by paid/unpaid.
但很多投资人喜欢两个数都看:blended,以及按付费/非付费拆分的 CAC。
We also like seeing the breakdown by dollars of paid customer acquisition channels: for example, how much does a paying customer cost if they were acquired via Facebook?
我们还喜欢按渠道再拆——比如:通过 Facebook 拉来的付费客户,每个 CAC 是多少?
Counterintuitively, it turns out that costs typically go up as you try and reach a larger audience.
反直觉的是,你的目标受众越大,获客成本通常越高。
So it might cost you $1 to acquire your first 1,000 users, $2 to acquire your next 10,000, and $5 to $10 to acquire your next 100,000.
所以前 1,000 个用户可能 $1/个,接下来 10,000 个 $2/个,再往后 100,000 个就要 $5-$10/个。
That's why you can't afford to ignore the metrics about volume of users acquired via each channel.
这就是为什么你不能忽视"每个渠道带来的用户量"这件事。
Different companies have almost unlimited definitions for what "active" means.
不同公司对"active"是什么意思,定义几乎是无穷多种的。
Some charts don't even define what that activity is, while others include inadvertent activity — such as having a high proportion of first-time users or accidental one-time users.
有的图表干脆不定义"活动"是什么;另一些则把"无意中的活动"也算进来——比如把大量首次用户或意外的一次性用户包进去。
Be clear on how you define "active."
把"active"的定义讲清楚。
Often this measured as the simple average of monthly growth rates.
通常大家会把它算成"每月增长率的简单算术平均"。
But investors often prefer to measure it as CMGR (Compounded Monthly Growth Rate) since CMGR measures the periodic growth, especially for a marketplace.
但投资人更喜欢用 CMGR(Compounded Monthly Growth Rate,月度复合增长率)来衡量——尤其是 marketplace 业务——因为 CMGR 衡量的是"周期性增长"。
Using CMGR [CMGR = (Latest Month/ First Month)^(1/# of Months) -1] also helps you benchmark growth rates with other companies.
用 CMGR 的公式——CMGR = (最近月 / 起始月)^(1/月数) − 1——还能让你的增长率跟其他公司可比。
This would otherwise be difficult to compare due to volatility and other factors.
不用 CMGR 的话,由于波动等因素,你很难做横向对比。
The CMGR will be smaller than the simple average in a growing business.
在一家增长中的公司里,CMGR 一定小于简单算术平均。
There's all kinds of churn — dollar churn, customer churn, net dollar churn — and there are varying definitions for how churn is measured.
"流失"有很多种——dollar churn、customer churn、net dollar churn——而每种的算法又有不同定义。
For example, some companies measure it on a revenue basis annually, which blends upsells with churn.
比如,有些公司按年度收入口径来算流失——这就把 upsell 和 churn 混在了一起。
Investors look at it the following way:
投资人通常这样看:
· Monthly unit churn = lost customers / prior month total
· Retention by cohort: Month 1 = 100% of installed base
· Latest Month = % of original installed base that are still transacting
· 月度单位流失 = 流失客户数 / 上月总客户数
· 按 cohort 看留存:第 1 月 = 该 cohort 100% 仍在
· 最新月 = 原始 cohort 中仍在交易的客户比例
It is also important to differentiate between gross churn and net revenue churn:
同样重要的是,要区分 gross churn 和 net revenue churn:
· Gross churn: MRR lost in a given month / MRR at the beginning of the month.
· Net churn: (MRR lost minus MRR from upsells) in a given month / MRR at the beginning of the month.
· Gross churn(总流失):某月失去的 MRR / 该月初的 MRR
· Net churn(净流失):(某月失去的 MRR − 来自 upsell 的 MRR)/ 该月初的 MRR
The difference between the two is significant.
两者的差异很大。
Gross churn estimates the actual loss to the business, while net revenue churn understates the losses (as it blends upsells with absolute churn).
Gross churn 反映的是生意真实的损失;而 net revenue churn 会低估损失——因为它把 upsell 和绝对流失混在了一起。
Burn rate is the rate at which cash is decreasing.
烧钱率,就是现金减少的速度。
Especially in early stage startups, it's important to know and monitor burn rate as companies fail when they are running out of cash and don't have enough time left to raise funds or reduce expenses.
特别是早期创业公司,知道并持续监控烧钱率很重要——公司死,大多是因为现金烧完时来不及融钱或砍开支。
As a reminder, here's a simple calculation:
提醒一下,简单的算法:
· Monthly cash burn = cash balance at the beginning of the year minus cash balance end of the year / 12
· 月度烧钱 = (年初现金余额 − 年末现金余额)/ 12
It's also important to measure net burn vs. gross burn:
同样重要的是要区分 net burn 和 gross burn:
· Net burn [revenues (including all incoming cash you have a high probability of receiving) – gross burn] is the true measure of amount of cash your company is burning every month.
· Net burn(净烧钱) = 收入(包括所有高确定性会收到的现金)− gross burn——这是你公司每月真实烧掉的现金量。
Gross burn on the other hand only looks at your monthly expenses + any other cash outlays.
Gross burn(总烧钱)则只看你的月度开支 + 其他现金流出。
Investors tend to focus on net burn to understand how long the money you have left in the bank will last for you to run the company.
投资人会主要看 net burn,来理解你银行里剩下的钱还能让你跑多久。
They will also take into account the rate at which your revenues and expenses grow as monthly burn may not be a constant number.
他们也会把"收入和支出的增长速度"纳入考量——因为月度烧钱可能不是一个稳定的数。
Downloads (or number of apps delivered by distribution deals) are really just a vanity metric.
下载量(或通过分发合作交付的 app 数量)其实就是个 vanity metric(虚荣指标)。
Investors want to see engagement, ideally expressed as cohort retention on metrics that matter for that business — for example, DAU (daily active users), MAU (monthly active users), photos shared, photos viewed, and so on.
投资人想看的是活跃度——理想情况下,用与该业务相关的指标按 cohort 看留存——比如 DAU(日活)、MAU(月活)、分享的照片数、查看的照片数等等。
Cumulative charts by definition always go up and to the right for any business that is showing any kind of activity.
按定义,只要一个生意还在产生任何活动,它的累计图就一定是向右上的。
But they are not a valid measure of growth — they can go up-and-to-the-right even when a business is shrinking.
但累计图根本不是增长的有效衡量——一个生意在萎缩,它的累计图照样会往右上走。
Thus, the metric is not a useful indicator of a company's health.
因此,累计图不是公司健康度的有用指标。
Investors like to look at monthly GMV, monthly revenue, or new users/customers per month to assess the growth in early stage businesses.
评估早期公司的增长,投资人喜欢看月度 GMV、月度营收,或每月新增用户/客户数。
Quarterly charts can be used for later-stage businesses or businesses with a lot of month-to-month volatility in metrics.
后期公司,或月度数据波动很大的公司,可以用季度图代替。
There a number of such tricks, but a few common ones include not labeling the Y-axis; shrinking scale to exaggerate growth; and only presenting percentage gains without presenting the absolute numbers.
这类花招很多——常见的几种包括:不标 Y 轴;压缩坐标尺度以夸大增长;只展示百分比涨幅而不给绝对数值。
(This last one is misleading since percentages can sound impressive off a small base, but are not an indicator of the future trajectory.)
(最后一种特别误导——基数小的时候百分比涨幅听上去很惊人,但完全不能预示未来轨迹。)
It's fine to present metrics in any order as you tell your story.
你讲自己的故事时,以任何顺序展示这些指标都没问题。
When initially evaluating businesses, investors often look at GMV, revenue, and bookings first because they're an indicator of the size of the business.
但在初步评估一家公司时,投资人通常先看 GMV、revenue 和 bookings——这些是生意规模的指示器。
Once investors have a sense of the size of the business, they'll want to understand growth to see how well the company is performing.
一旦对生意规模有了感觉,他们会去看增长——评估这家公司表现如何。
These basic metrics, if interesting, then compel us to look even further.
这些基础指标如果有意思,我们才会再往下挖。
As one of our partners who recently had a baby observes here: It's almost like doing a health check for your baby at the pediatrician's office. Check weight and height, and then compare to previous estimates to make sure things look healthy before you go any deeper!
用我们一位刚当爸爸的合伙人的话说:这就像带宝宝去儿科做体检——先量身高体重,跟之前的数据对比一下,确认一切看上去健康,再做更深入的检查。