Glossary of Financial Terms
ARR, churn, LTV, CAC, runway, and the rest of the terms used in the app.
Quick Reference: Common Terms Used in Radley Finance
This glossary defines key financial terms you'll encounter while building your model - whether it's a SaaS, Services, Ecommerce, Hardware, or Marketplace model.
Revenue Terms
ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)
The total annual value of recurring subscription contracts. MRR × 12.
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)
The total monthly value of recurring subscription revenue. The core metric for SaaS businesses.
GMV (Gross Merchandise Value)
Total value of transactions processed through a marketplace, before taking your cut.
Take Rate
The percentage of GMV that a marketplace keeps as revenue. Revenue = GMV × Take Rate.
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)
Total revenue divided by number of users/customers. Can be monthly (ARPU) or annual.
Expansion Revenue
Additional revenue from existing customers through upsells, cross-sells, or usage increases.
Contraction
Reduction in revenue from existing customers through downgrades or reduced usage.
Customer Terms
Churn Rate
Percentage of customers who cancel in a given period. Monthly churn of 5% = 5% of customers leave each month.
Net Revenue Retention (NRR)
Measures revenue from existing customers over time, including expansion and churn. >100% means growing without new customers.
Customer Acquisition
The process of getting new customers. Involves marketing, sales, and conversion.
Cohort
A group of customers who signed up during the same time period. Used for retention analysis.
Conversion Rate
Percentage of prospects who become customers. Trial-to-paid, visitor-to-signup, etc.
Unit Economics
LTV (Lifetime Value)
Total revenue expected from a customer over their entire relationship with you.
Formula: LTV = (ARPU × Gross Margin) ÷ Churn Rate
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
Total cost to acquire a new customer, including marketing and sales expenses.
Formula: CAC = Total Acquisition Costs ÷ New Customers
LTV:CAC Ratio
Comparison of customer value to acquisition cost. Target: 3:1 or higher for healthy SaaS.
Payback Period
Time to recover the cost of acquiring a customer.
Formula: Payback Period = CAC ÷ (ARPU × Gross Margin)
Contribution Margin
Revenue minus variable costs per unit. Shows profitability before fixed costs.
Contribution Margin per Order
An ecommerce version of contribution margin: revenue per order minus the variable costs of fulfilling it (product cost, shipping, fulfillment, payment processing). What each order actually contributes toward fixed costs and profit.
Profitability Terms
Gross Margin
Revenue minus cost of goods sold (COGS), expressed as percentage.
Formula: Gross Margin = (Revenue - COGS) ÷ Revenue
COGS (Cost of Goods Sold)
Direct costs to deliver your product. For SaaS: hosting, support, payment processing.
Operating Expenses (OpEx)
Costs to run the business: salaries, rent, marketing, software, etc.
EBITDA
Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization. Common profitability measure.
Net Income
Bottom line profit after all expenses, interest, and taxes.
Burn Rate
How fast you're spending cash. Usually expressed monthly.
Formula: Burn Rate = Cash Spent per Month
Runway
How long until you run out of cash at current burn rate.
Formula: Runway = Cash Balance ÷ Monthly Burn Rate
Funding Terms
Seed Round
Early funding round, typically $500K-$3M, often from angels and early-stage VCs.
Series A
First institutional round, typically $5M-$15M, from venture capital firms.
Series B+
Subsequent funding rounds as company grows and needs more capital.
Pre-money Valuation
Company's value before new investment is added.
Post-money Valuation
Company's value after new investment. Pre-money + Investment Amount.
Dilution
Reduction in ownership percentage when new shares are issued.
Cap Table
Table showing ownership of the company by all shareholders.
Growth Terms
MoM (Month-over-Month)
Growth from one month to the next. 10% MoM = 10% growth each month.
YoY (Year-over-Year)
Growth compared to same period last year.
CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate)
Smoothed annual growth rate over multiple years.
T2D3
SaaS growth pattern: Triple, Triple, Double, Double, Double revenue annually.
Marketplace Terms
Supply
Sellers, providers, hosts, drivers - the side that provides the product/service.
Demand
Buyers, guests, riders - the side that consumes the product/service.
Liquidity
How easily supply and demand find each other and transact.
Network Effects
Value increases as more users join. More supply attracts demand and vice versa.
Chicken-and-Egg Problem
Needing supply to attract demand, but needing demand to attract supply.
Two-Sided CAC/LTV
In a marketplace you acquire two kinds of customers, so CAC and LTV are tracked separately for the supply side (sellers) and the demand side (buyers). Healthy unit economics require both sides to work.
Services Business Terms
Utilization
The percentage of your team's available hours that are actually billable. A core driver of services profitability - capacity × utilization × billing rate drives revenue.
Retainer
A recurring contract where a client pays a set amount each month for ongoing services. The services equivalent of recurring revenue.
Pipeline
The set of potential client deals you're pursuing, from lead to signed contract. Pipeline × win rate drives new project revenue.
Ecommerce & Hardware Terms
AOV (Average Order Value)
Total revenue divided by number of orders. A core ecommerce driver: orders × AOV = revenue.
BOM (Bill of Materials)
The full list of components and materials needed to build one unit of a hardware product, and their total cost. The starting point for hardware unit economics.
Weeks on Hand
How many weeks of expected sales your current inventory covers. Too low risks stockouts; too high ties up cash in inventory.
Attach Rate
For hardware businesses: the percentage of hardware customers who also take a software subscription or add-on ("software attach"). Recurring attach revenue can transform hardware margins.
Fulfillment Cost
The cost of picking, packing, and shipping an order - a key variable cost in contribution margin per order.
Financial Statement Terms
P&L (Profit & Loss Statement)
Shows revenue, expenses, and profit over a period. Also called Income Statement.
Balance Sheet
Snapshot of assets, liabilities, and equity at a point in time.
Cash Flow Statement
Shows sources and uses of cash over a period.
Accounts Receivable
Money owed to you by customers.
Accounts Payable
Money you owe to suppliers/vendors.
Deferred Revenue
Money received for services not yet delivered. A liability until you deliver.
Exit & Returns Terms
Exit Valuation
What the company could be worth at exit (acquisition or IPO), typically a multiple of revenue or EBITDA.
MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital)
How many times an investor's money is returned at exit. Shown in Radley as e.g. 4.4x.
IRR (Internal Rate of Return)
The annualized return an investment earns between entry and exit.
Enterprise Value
The total value of the business implied by the model at a point in time.
Radley-Specific Terms
Planning Model / Investment Model
Radley's two tiers - see the comparison below.
Defensibility Score
The "N/100 - X things an investor will challenge" card on your planning preview. Each open item links to the Review tab's fix-it flow ("Make it defensible").
Health Score
The 0-100 gauge on an investment model's Review tab summarizing how defensible your assumptions look.
Suggested Raise
The raise Radley sizes from your model ("You'll need to raise $X by QX at ~$Y pre-money"). A blurred teaser on the free tier; the full raise plan on Build It Yourself. It seeds the funding round when you upgrade.
Assumption to Refine
The tag on values still at an industry default rather than your own data. Clears when you replace the default. The Review tab's "Whose numbers are these?" meter tracks the same thing.
Carried Over
The badge on investment-wizard fields pre-filled from your planning model.
Fill Rate (Liquidity)
For marketplaces: matched GMV as a share of available potential - how reliably the marketplace clears the constrained side.
Scenario (Conservative / Base / Aggressive)
The three growth postures every investment model carries; switch live from the Assumptions tab.
How Radley Formats Numbers
| Convention | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting negatives | ($196,507) |
Parentheses = negative; statements use full dollars with thousands separators |
| Compact metrics | $18.8M, $306K |
Summary cards and key metrics |
| n/m | n/m |
"Not meaningful" - shown instead of an absurd percentage |
| Ratios | 3:1 |
A:B format, e.g. LTV:CAC |
| Multiples | 4.4x |
Times money / valuation multiples |
Tier Comparison at a Glance
| Planning (Free) | Investment (Build It Yourself) | |
|---|---|---|
| Statements | Annual, in browser | Monthly + annual (60 months) |
| Downloads | Planning summary PDF | .xlsx workbook, .pptx deck, .pdf memo |
| Review | Defensibility score, limited insights | Full report + formula explorer |
| Scenarios | Set in wizard | Live switcher |
| Q&A / Memo / Rehearsal / Ask AI | Padlocked | Included |
| Price | $0 forever | $1,250 / year |
Quick Conversions
| From | To | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly churn | Annual churn | 1 - (1 - monthly)^12 |
| MRR | ARR | MRR × 12 |
| Monthly growth | Annual growth | (1 + monthly)^12 - 1 |
| CAC & Payback | LTV | LTV = CAC × LTV:CAC ratio |
Industry Benchmarks
| Metric | Good | Great |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS Gross Margin | 70%+ | 80%+ |
| LTV:CAC Ratio | 3:1 | 5:1+ |
| Monthly Churn (B2B) | <3% | <1% |
| CAC Payback | <18 months | <12 months |
| Net Revenue Retention | >100% | >120% |
These are general guidelines. Your specific industry and stage may have different benchmarks.