Churn: Logo vs. Revenue
Written by Harry Prabandham
Curated by Rubric Financial
Last updated
1 / 5
Churn Is the Leak Under Your Growth
- Churn is the rate at which customers or revenue leave, and it caps every growth metric built on top of it.
- There are two distinct kinds: logo churn (customers lost) and revenue or dollar churn (revenue lost).
- They can tell very different stories, and a healthy-looking logo number can hide a dangerous revenue problem.
- Churn sits in the denominator of LTV and drags net revenue retention, so define it before you build on it.
Go deeper on this topic: Revenue Leakage: Where SaaS Startups Quietly Lose Revenue (and How to Plug It)→
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About the author
Harry PrabandhamFounder & CEO
Founder and CEO of StartupCFO. MBA from Wharton, MS in Computer Science, and decades of experience building and advising venture-backed startups.
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