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Unit Economics Template: CAC, LTV & Payback by Channel
CAC, LTV, payback period, and LTV:CAC computed per acquisition channel, not just blended. Enter spend, customers, ACV, gross margin, and churn for each channel; the metrics calculate automatically and color scales flag which channels earn their budget.
Best for: Founders evaluating channel mix or preparing for VC unit-economics questions.
What's Inside
- Per-channel CAC, LTV, payback period, and LTV:CAC ratio
- Editable yellow inputs: spend, customers acquired, ACV, gross margin, churn
- Color scales flagging healthy versus unhealthy economics per channel
Like all our templates, it ships as a properly formatted .xlsx with live formulas, freeze panes, and conditional formatting. Yellow cells are editable inputs; everything else recalculates automatically.
How to Use It
- 1Add a column per acquisition channel: paid, outbound, content, partnerships
- 2Enter each channel's spend, customers acquired, ACV, gross margin, and churn
- 3Read the per-channel LTV:CAC and payback; reallocate budget toward channels that clear your thresholds
Want the concepts behind the spreadsheet? Interactive unit economics calculator
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the unit economics template calculate?
CAC, LTV, payback period, and the LTV:CAC ratio, computed separately for each acquisition channel from your spend, customer, ACV, gross margin, and churn inputs.
Why compute unit economics by channel instead of blended?
Blended numbers hide the story. A healthy blended LTV:CAC can conceal one channel burning money, and investors increasingly ask for the per-channel cut.
Is the template free?
Yes. Direct .xlsx download, no signup, opens in Excel, Google Sheets, and Numbers.
More Free Templates
Templates get you started. When you want the numbers maintained for you, StartupCFO bundles a bookkeeper, CPA, and fractional CFO from $179/mo. See pricing.
