50 Startup Finance Terms, With Formulas and Who Defines Each

Startup finance terms come in two kinds. Some have an owner outside the company, a standard setter, a regulator or a model contract: cash equivalents, revenue, fair market value, DPI. The rest, including ARR, burn and CAC, mean what the company reporting them says. Look up the first kind; write the definition of the second next to every number.

On our reading, the costly mistakes rarely involve an unknown word. They happen between neighbours that sound alike and measure different things. On Carta’s data for the funds it administers, the median 2017-vintage US venture fund has a net TVPI of 1.64x, of which 0.31x is DPI, cash actually returned (Carta, 2026). The larger number is about 81% paper (our arithmetic). This glossary defines 50 entries in nine groups, names the owner of each definition, and contrasts the confusable sets.

Startup finance terms that get confused, and who owns each definition

Set	The difference	Owner of the definition
Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash	Equivalents have original maturities of three months or less; restricted cash is held for a set purpose	FASB (ASC 230)
Gross burn, net burn, burn multiple	Cash out; cash out minus cash in; net burn per dollar of net new ARR	The company
Bookings, billings, revenue	Signed, invoiced, delivered	FASB for revenue (ASC 606); the company otherwise
Deferred revenue, RPO	Billed but unearned; contracted but unearned, billed or not	FASB (ASC 606)
Cash basis, accrual basis	When cash moves; when income is earned	IRS for tax; GAAP for statements
EBITDA, free cash flow	Earnings before four charges; operating cash flow minus capital spending	SEC rules on non-GAAP measures
MRR, ARR, run-rate	Contracted recurring revenue per month or per year; any revenue annualized	The company
GRR, NRR, churn	Retention without expansion; with expansion; the share lost	The company
DPI, RVPI, TVPI, MOIC	Cash returned; value still held; both; a deal-level gross multiple	GIPS and ILPA
Pre-money SAFE, post-money SAFE	Whether the ownership sold is known at signing	The contract (Y Combinator forms)
Non-participating, participating preference	The greater of preference or conversion; preference plus a pro rata share	The charter (NVCA model terms)

Source: FASB, IRS, SEC, GIPS, ILPA, NVCA and Y Combinator documents cited below; CX Cash synthesis.

Some startup finance terms are defined by a standard, the rest by the company

A term defined outside the company can be checked by anyone. FASB’s revenue standard says when a dollar has been earned, the Internal Revenue Code says when an option is an incentive stock option, and the GIPS standards say what a fund manager divides by what to report DPI. A director who doubts the number can check it against the source.

The rest are metrics whose definition belongs to the company reporting them. ARR, net burn, CAC, bookings and net revenue retention appear in no accounting standard, and companies settle the edge cases differently. On our count, 19 of the 50 entries below are company-defined, including all 12 SaaS metrics and all 4 burn and runway measures. Listed companies must at least write the definition down. The SEC expects a key performance metric to come with “A clear definition of the metric and how it is calculated”, a reason it is useful and an account of how management uses it. When the method changes, the differences should be disclosed (SEC, 2020).

The line was argued over in public in 2014. On 13 March, reviewing Zendesk’s draft prospectus, SEC staff asked it to expand its discussion of “dollar-based net expansion rate to provide the disclosures required by Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K” (SEC staff letter, 2014). Item 10(e) governs non-GAAP measures and calls for a reconciliation to GAAP. The S-1 that Zendesk filed four weeks later defined the rate at length and stated that its monthly recurring revenue “is not determined by reference to historical revenue, deferred revenue or any other GAAP financial measure over any period” (Zendesk, 2014). The rate was 126% at the end of 2012 and 123% at the end of 2013.

Each entry below ends with the owner of its definition; for company-defined terms, it gives the convention we use.

Cash and treasury terms: FASB decides what counts as cash

Cash is the one number in a board pack that an auditor and a founder read the same way, because the standards fix its edges. Most treasury terms are set by standards.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash in bank accounts plus what FASB’s Statement 95, now ASC 230, calls “short-term, highly liquid investments” that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and so near maturity that interest rates barely move their value. Generally only investments with original maturities of three months or less qualify; Treasury bills, commercial paper and money market funds are the standard’s examples (FASB, 1987). A six-month Treasury bill bought today is a short-term investment instead. Owner: FASB.

Restricted cash

Cash a company holds but cannot use freely, for example a deposit pledged against a letter of credit. Since ASU 2016-18, the cash flow statement explains the change in the total of cash, cash equivalents and “amounts generally described as restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents”, although the update gives no definition of restricted cash itself (FASB, 2016). Runway arithmetic should leave it out. Owner: FASB.

Working capital

Current assets minus current liabilities. Fastly’s 2019 IPO prospectus used exactly that definition and reported $85.5M of working capital against $37.0M of cash and cash equivalents, a ratio of 2.3 (our arithmetic; Fastly, 2019). A positive figure says current assets cover current liabilities; it says nothing about when receivables become cash. Owner: the company, built from GAAP balance sheet lines.

Cash conversion cycle (DSO, DIO, DPO)

The days between paying for inputs and collecting from customers. Verlyn Richards and Eugene Laughlin set out the cash conversion cycle approach to liquidity analysis in Financial Management in 1980 (Richards & Laughlin, 1980).

CCC = DSO + DIO − DPO

Days sales outstanding is receivables divided by revenue times the days in the period; DIO and DPO apply the same logic to inventory and payables. A software company with no inventory that collects in 45 days and pays in 30 runs a 15-day cycle. Owner: analysis, so state the averaging.

Going concern

Since ASU 2014-15, management must assess whether there is substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Such doubt exists when it is “probable that the entity will be unable to meet its obligations as they become due within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued” (FASB, 2014). For a startup, the test is most likely to bite when runway at the date the accounts are issued is shorter than a year and no financing is committed, although management’s plans can still alleviate the doubt (our reading). Owner: FASB.

Each company defines its own burn and runway, so the definition travels with the number

But the numbers founders watch most closely appear in no standard, and the same company can report three different burn figures for one month.

Gross burn

Total cash paid out in a period, usually a month, before counting cash collected. It measures what the company costs to run. Owner: the company.

Net burn

Cash paid out minus cash collected from operations over the period, leaving out new equity and debt.

net burn = cash paid out − cash collected (excluding financing)

A hypothetical company that pays out $350,000 in a month and collects $150,000 burns $200,000 net. Owner: the company.

Runway

Months until cash runs out at the current net burn: cash divided by monthly net burn. With $2.4M of cash and $200,000 of net burn, runway is 12 months (hypothetical). Paul Graham asks a sharper question, whether a company is default alive: “Assuming their expenses remain constant and their revenue growth is what it has been over the last several months, do they make it to profitability on the money they have left?” (Graham, 2015). Runway holds burn constant; default alive lets revenue grow. Owner: the company.

Burn multiple

Net burn divided by net new ARR over the same period, as David Sacks defined it in 2020: “Burn Multiple = Net Burn / Net New ARR” (Sacks, 2020). His own example burns $2M in a quarter while adding $1M of ARR, a 2x multiple. Lower is better, and Bessemer’s efficiency ratio is the same calculation inverted. Owner: the company.

Free cash flow

Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures. SEC staff describe the usual calculation as “cash flows from operating activities as presented in the statement of cash flows under GAAP, less capital expenditures” (SEC staff, non-GAAP interpretations). They warn against implying that the result is free for discretionary spending, since debt service is not deducted. Owner: SEC non-GAAP rules; the company sets the calculation.

Accounting terms: ASC 606 owns revenue and the two balances beside it

Therefore the firmest way into a startup’s numbers starts at revenue, which has a rulebook, and works outward.

Cash basis and accrual basis

Under the cash method a business reports income in the year it receives it and deducts expenses when it pays them; under the accrual method it reports income when earned, “regardless of when payment is received” (IRS, Publication 538). Financial statements under US GAAP use the accrual basis. For tax, section 448 bars C corporations from the cash method unless average annual gross receipts over the three prior years do not exceed a threshold, $32,000,000 for tax years beginning in 2026 (26 U.S.C. § 448; Rev. Proc. 2025-32). Owner: the IRS for tax, GAAP for statements.

Revenue

What a company has earned by transferring goods or services to customers. ASC 606 sets five steps: identify the contract, identify the performance obligations, determine the transaction price, allocate it, then “Recognize revenue when (or as) the entity satisfies a performance obligation” (FASB, 2014). A hypothetical $120,000 annual subscription billed on 1 January has earned $30,000 by 31 March. Owner: FASB (ASC 606); IFRS 15 outside the US.

Deferred revenue (contract liability)

Cash received or billed before the service is delivered. ASC 606 calls it a contract liability: “An entity’s obligation to transfer goods or services to a customer for which the entity has received consideration (or the amount is due) from the customer.” In the example, deferred revenue on 31 March is $90,000. Owner: FASB.

Remaining performance obligations (RPO)

Contracted revenue not yet recognized, billed or not. Paragraph 606-10-50-13 requires disclosure of “The aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to the performance obligations that are unsatisfied (or partially unsatisfied)” at the period end.

RPO = deferred revenue + unbilled non-cancellable contract value

Were the subscription a three-year contract billed annually, RPO on 31 March would be $330,000: $90,000 deferred plus $240,000 not yet billed. Owner: FASB.

Bookings

The value of contracts signed in a period. No standard defines it, so one company counts first-year value, another total contract value, another annualized recurring value. The same three-year contract books $120,000 or $360,000 depending on the house rule. Owner: the company.

Billings

Amounts invoiced in a period, usually calculated as revenue plus the change in deferred revenue. AppDynamics used that definition in its 2016 prospectus: “our total revenues plus the change in our deferred revenue” (AppDynamics, 2016). In the example, first-quarter billings are $120,000 against $30,000 of revenue. Owner: the company.

The financial statements are GAAP’s; EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure

But revenue is only the top line. GAAP defines the three statements; the most quoted profit measure beside them is not GAAP.

Balance sheet

Assets, liabilities and equity at a point in time, with assets equal to liabilities plus equity. Cash, receivables, deferred revenue and convertible notes all sit here. Owner: GAAP.

Income statement (P&L)

Revenue, expenses and profit over a period, on the accrual basis. Revenue minus cost of revenue is gross profit; gross profit minus operating expenses (sales and marketing, research and development, general and administrative) is operating income. Owner: GAAP.

Cash flow statement

The change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash over a period, split into operating, investing and financing activities, as Statement 95 set out in 1987. It encouraged the direct method, which shows major classes of operating receipts and payments; the indirect method reaches the same operating cash flow by adjusting net income. Owner: FASB.

Gross margin

gross margin = (revenue − cost of revenue) ÷ revenue

For a SaaS company, cost of revenue covers the cost of delivering the service, such as hosting and support. A hypothetical $1.0M of revenue with $250,000 of such costs gives a 75% gross margin. Where support and onboarding sit is a policy choice. Owner: GAAP for the lines, the company for the allocation.

EBITDA

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The SEC’s 2003 rules on non-GAAP measures give it as an example of a measure that “could be calculated using elements derived from GAAP financial presentations but, in any event, is not presented in accordance with GAAP” (SEC, 2003). Adjusted EBITDA adds back further items, and each pack must list them. Owner: SEC rules name it; the company defines the adjustments.

SaaS revenue metrics count contracts; GAAP revenue counts delivery

Therefore every SaaS revenue metric is a company definition that starts where ASC 606 stops: at the contract, before the service is delivered.

MRR (monthly recurring revenue)

Subscription revenue a company can expect each month from active customers, with annual plans spread by month and one-time fees left out.

MRRₜ = MRRₜ₋₁ + new + expansion − contraction − churn

Owner: the company.

ARR (annual recurring revenue)

The annualized value of live recurring contracts, usually MRR × 12. The SaaS Metrics Standards Board, an industry body, defines ARR as “recurring revenue, as defined by your revenue recognition policy, calculated on an annualized basis” and calls it “a measure at a point in time - much like a Balance Sheet item” (SMSB). Usage above committed minimums is the main edge case; the board says it “should not be part of ARR”. Owner: the company.

CARR (contracted ARR)

ARR plus signed contracts not yet live. The board defines it as “contracted annual recurring revenue, whether in production or not yet in production”, and warns that it and ARR “should not be used interchangeably” (SMSB). Owner: the company.

Run-rate revenue

Any period’s revenue multiplied up to a year, one-time and usage revenue included. A hypothetical month with $100,000 of revenue, $20,000 of it a setup fee, is a $1.2M run-rate but $960,000 of ARR if the rest recurs. Owner: the company.

Retention and efficiency metrics: the formula is the definition

But ARR is a stock. Retention and efficiency metrics measure the flows that change it, and each depends on a choice of numerator, denominator and period.

Churn rate

Logo churn is customers lost in a period divided by customers at its start; revenue churn uses the MRR lost to cancellations and downgrades. ChartMogul’s formula also strips out customers who joined and churned within the period (ChartMogul). Losing 10 of 400 customers in a month is 2.5% monthly churn, or about 26% a year, since annual churn = 1 − (1 − monthly churn)^12. Owner: the company.

GRR (gross revenue retention)

Recurring revenue kept from last year’s customers after downgrades and churn, with no credit for expansion.

GRR = (starting ARR − contraction − churn) ÷ starting ARR

The Standards Board caps each customer at its starting revenue, using “the lesser of the beginning MRR or the current month’s MRR” (SMSB), so GRR cannot exceed 100%. Owner: the company.

NRR (net revenue retention)

The same cohort’s recurring revenue a year later, expansion included, with new customers left out.

NRR = (starting ARR + expansion − contraction − churn) ÷ starting ARR

The board adds that “it’s important to use revenue and not bookings, billings, or cash accounting” (SMSB). A hypothetical cohort that starts at $1.0M, loses $80,000 to churn and $20,000 to downgrades, and expands by $150,000 has 90% GRR and 105% NRR. Owner: the company; Zendesk’s “dollar-based net expansion rate” is the same idea.

CAC (customer acquisition cost)

Sales and marketing spend in a period divided by the new customers won in it. Andreessen Horowitz’s 2015 list of startup metrics says CAC “should be the full cost of acquiring users, stated on a per user basis”, and separates blended CAC, over all new customers, from paid CAC, over those won through paid channels (a16z, 2015). Owner: the company.

CAC payback period

Months of gross profit needed to recover acquisition cost, which Bessemer defined in 2012 as “the number of months required to pay back the upfront customer acquisition costs after accounting for the variable expenses to service that customer” (Bessemer, 2012).

CAC payback = CAC ÷ (new MRR per customer × gross margin)

A $12,000 CAC for a customer paying $1,000 a month at an 80% gross margin pays back in 15 months. Owner: the company.

LTV and LTV:CAC

Lifetime value is the gross profit a customer brings over its life: monthly revenue × gross margin ÷ monthly revenue churn. David Skok derives the lifetime from churn, so 3% a month gives “1/0.03 which is 33 months” (Skok). Andreessen Horowitz prefers net profit, defining LTV as “the present value of the future net profit from the customer over the duration of the relationship”. At $1,000 a month, 80% margin and 2% churn, LTV is $40,000, and LTV:CAC against a $12,000 CAC is 3.3. Owner: the company.

Magic number

The quarter’s increase in revenue, annualized, divided by the previous quarter’s sales and marketing spend. Scale Venture Partners built it on GAAP revenue as a workaround, “replacing ARR with GAAP revenue” so that companies can be compared (Scale, 2020).

magic number = (revenueₜ − revenueₜ₋₁) × 4 ÷ S&Mₜ₋₁

Revenue rising from $1.00M to $1.10M on $400,000 of prior-quarter sales and marketing gives 1.0. Owner: the company.

Rule of 40

Revenue growth rate plus profit margin should reach 40%. Brad Feld’s 2015 version: “your growth rate + your profit should add up to 40%”, for SaaS companies “at scale – assume at least $50 million in revenue” (Feld, 2015). The profit measure varies between EBITDA, free cash flow and operating margin, so a score means little until the measure is named. Owner: the company.

Full guide: Rule of 40.

Fund metrics: GIPS and ILPA own the multiples, and TVPI = DPI + RVPI

Founders meet these startup finance terms second-hand, in their investors’ reports, yet they explain how investors behave. Unlike SaaS metrics, they are set from outside: GIPS and ILPA fix the numerators and denominators.

Committed capital and paid-in capital

Committed capital is what a fund’s limited partners have promised; paid-in capital is what they have contributed so far, management fees included. GIPS calls the ratio of the two the PIC multiple, “Since-inception paid-in capital to cumulative committed capital” (GIPS, 2020). Fund multiples divide by paid-in capital, never by commitments. Owner: GIPS.

NAV (net asset value)

The manager’s current estimate of what the fund’s remaining holdings are worth, after fund-level liabilities. A startup’s line in that estimate is often its last round’s price. Owner: the fund’s valuation policy.

DPI, RVPI and TVPI

DPI is distributions divided by paid-in capital, the “realization multiple” in GIPS’s terms; RVPI is NAV divided by paid-in capital, the “unrealized multiple”; TVPI is their sum, the “investment multiple”.

TVPI = (distributions + NAV) ÷ paid-in capital = DPI + RVPI

ILPA’s net TVPI divides by “the total capital contributed to the illiquid fund by its fee-paying investors for any purpose” (ILPA, 2025). Carta’s median 2017-vintage fund, at 1.64x TVPI and 0.31x DPI, has an RVPI of 1.33x (our arithmetic). Owner: GIPS and ILPA.

MOIC (multiple on invested capital)

Realized proceeds plus unrealized value, divided by capital invested, usually for a deal or a portfolio and before fees. ILPA’s gross MOIC puts “only cash paid-in for the purposes of investment” in the denominator, where TVPI counts every dollar paid in, fees included. A hypothetical $1M check now worth $2.5M is a 2.5x MOIC. Owner: ILPA.

IRR (internal rate of return)

The annual rate at which the present value of all cash flows, in and out, equals zero.

0 = Σ CFₜ ÷ (1 + IRR)^t

ILPA calculates gross IRR “gross of all fees, expenses and performance-based compensation borne by the private fund” and net IRR after them. The same 2.5x is 20.1% a year over five years and 9.6% over ten. IRR and TVPI can move in opposite directions: in ILPA’s 2017 example, a credit line that delays capital calls lifts IRR from 6.62% to 7.98% while TVPI falls from 1.45x to 1.35x, because the fund pays interest (ILPA, 2017). Owner: ILPA.

J-curve

The shape of a fund’s returns over time: negative while fees are paid and investments are held near cost, then rising as companies grow and are sold. Hamilton Lane puts the negative period at “three to four years following the fund’s inception” (Hamilton Lane). Owner: descriptive.

Full guide: J-curve.

Management fee and carried interest

Andrew Metrick and Ayako Yasuda illustrate the fee with a 2% annual charge on committed capital over ten years, 20% of commitments in total. Carried interest is the share of profits the manager keeps, and 89 of the 94 venture funds in their sample set it at 20% (Metrick & Yasuda, 2010). Owner: the limited partnership agreement.

Fundraising terms: the documents own them, and the post-money SAFE fixed the arithmetic

Therefore fundraising terms are also set from outside the company, by documents rather than standards. The model forms set the defaults; the signed version sets the deal.

Pre-money and post-money valuation

post-money = pre-money + new money

In the NVCA model term sheet, the price per share comes from a fully diluted pre-money valuation that includes the unallocated option pool, sized as a percentage of the post-money capitalization (NVCA, 2020). A hypothetical $20M pre-money with a 10% post-money pool and a $5M raise leaves existing holders an effective pre-money of $17.5M, because the $2.5M pool comes out of their side. Owner: the term sheet.

SAFE (simple agreement for future equity)

Cash now for shares in a future priced round, with no interest and no maturity. Y Combinator introduced it in December 2013 as a replacement for convertible notes and described what the investor buys as closer to a warrant than to debt (Y Combinator, 2013). In 2018 the standard form became a post-money SAFE, whose advantage, in YC’s words, is that “the amount of ownership sold is immediately transparent and calculable”; raising $1M on a $6.7M post-money cap sells 15% (Y Combinator, User Guide). Under a pre-money SAFE, the ownership sold stays uncertain until conversion. Owner: the contract.

Convertible note

Debt that converts into equity at the next priced round. Unlike a SAFE, it accrues interest, often 2% to 8% in YC’s comparison, and has a maturity date that can force repayment or default (Y Combinator). Owner: the contract, and the law on debt.

Full guide: Convertible note.

Valuation cap and discount

The two conversion terms of a SAFE or a note. A cap sets the highest valuation at which the money converts; a discount converts it at a set percentage below the new investors’ price. YC’s standard form carries a cap only, with discount and most-favoured-nation versions available. Owner: the contract.

Equity terms: the NVCA forms and the tax code set the defaults

But a price is only half of a deal; the equity terms decide who receives what in a sale, and who pays tax when.

Liquidation preference

What preferred stock receives in a sale or liquidation before common stock. In the NVCA model, non-participating preferred takes its preference “or, if greater, the amount that the Series A Preferred would receive on an as-converted basis”. Participating preferred takes the preference and then “participates with the Common Stock pro rata on an as-converted basis” (NVCA, 2020). Owner: the charter.

A $10M Series A for 20% under a 1x preference, $ millions

Sale price	Non-participating: investor	Non-participating: common	Participating: investor	Participating: common
10	10.0	0.0	10.0	0.0
30	10.0	20.0	14.0	16.0
100	20.0	80.0	28.0	72.0

Hypothetical company, our arithmetic. Terms as in the NVCA model term sheet (2020), Alternatives 1 and 2.

Anti-dilution: weighted average and full ratchet

Protection that lowers the preferred’s conversion price when the company later sells shares more cheaply. The NVCA’s broad-based weighted average sets the new price by formula.

CP2 = CP1 × (A + B) ÷ (A + C)

A is the fully diluted share count before the new issue (issued shares, preferred as converted and options as exercised), B the new money divided by CP1, and C the shares actually issued. A full ratchet resets the conversion price to the new price. With CP1 at $1.00, 10M shares and $2M raised at $0.50, the weighted average gives $0.857 and a full ratchet $0.50. Owner: the charter.

Full guide: Anti-dilution.

Option pool

Shares reserved for future employee grants. Because the NVCA term sheet counts the pool in the pre-money valuation, a larger pool lowers the price existing holders receive, as the pre-money example shows. Owner: the term sheet and the equity plan.

Full guide: Option pool.

409A valuation

An appraisal of the fair market value of common stock, used to set option exercise prices. Under the Treasury regulations, an option escapes deferred-compensation treatment only if its exercise price “may never be less than the fair market value of the underlying stock” on the grant date. A valuation by independent appraisal dated no more than 12 months before the grant is presumed reasonable (26 CFR 1.409A-1). Owner: the IRS.

Full guide: 409A valuation.

ISO and NSO

Incentive stock options qualify for favourable tax treatment under section 422 if, among other conditions, the option price is at least fair market value at grant and the option lasts no more than 10 years; non-qualified options are the rest. To the extent that options first exercisable in one calendar year cover more than $100,000 of stock, valued at grant, they are treated as non-qualified (26 U.S.C. § 422). Owner: the IRS.

83(b) election

A filing that lets someone who receives restricted stock be taxed on its value at transfer rather than as it vests. It must be made “not later than 30 days after the date of such transfer”, and once made it “may not be revoked except with the consent of the Secretary” (26 U.S.C. § 83). Owner: the IRS.

The SaaS Metrics Standards Board has a point about ARR

The best case for company-defined metrics comes from their authors. The SaaS Metrics Standards Board argues that ARR, as a point-in-time measure, “is an accurate measure for the current size of a SaaS business”, which revenue for a past period cannot be. Zendesk made the same case for its contractual MRR, calling it “forward-looking and contractually derived as of the date of determination”. GAAP revenue says what happened last quarter; a founder planning next quarter’s hiring needs what is under contract today.

The Board is right that ARR measures something revenue cannot, and nothing here argues for dropping ARR or net revenue retention. Its argument says nothing against writing the definitions down. Scale Venture Partners made the trade in the other direction, basing the magic number on GAAP revenue because “GAAP standardizes how and when sales are recognized”. A company that keeps ARR keeps the comparability problem unless it publishes the definition, which is the core of what the SEC’s 2020 guidance asks of listed companies.

Sort the terms by who owns them

A glossary of startup finance terms cannot make ARR mean one thing, but it can sort them by owner. Where FASB, the IRS, GIPS, ILPA or the signed documents own a definition, a dispute about a number is a factual question with an answer in a source. Where the company owns it, the dispute is about the definition, and the cheapest time to settle it is before the number reaches a board pack.

References

• a16z (2015). 16 Startup Metrics. Andreessen Horowitz.
• AppDynamics, Inc. (2016). Form S-1 registration statement.
• Bessemer Venture Partners (2012). The five accounting metrics for cloud companies.
• Carta (2026). VC Fund Performance: Q1 2026.
• CFA Institute (2020). Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) for Firms.
• ChartMogul. Customer churn rate.
• Fastly, Inc. (2019). Form S-1 registration statement.
• FASB (1987). Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 95, Statement of Cash Flows.
• FASB (2014). Accounting Standards Update 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606).
• FASB (2014). Accounting Standards Update 2014-15, Presentation of Financial Statements: Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40).
• FASB (2016). Accounting Standards Update 2016-18, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Restricted Cash.
• Feld, B. (2015). The Rule of 40% for a Healthy SaaS Company.
• Graham, P. (2015). Default Alive or Default Dead?
• Hamilton Lane. J-Curves: An Introduction.
• ILPA (2017). Subscription Lines of Credit and Alignment of Interests.
• ILPA (2025). Performance Template Definitions: Granular Methodology, version 1.1.
• Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. §§ 83, 422 and 448; Treasury Regulation 26 CFR 1.409A-1.
• IRS. Publication 538, Accounting Periods and Methods (December 2024); Revenue Procedure 2025-32.
• Metrick, A. and Yasuda, A. (2010). The economics of private equity funds. Review of Financial Studies 23(6).
• NVCA (2020). Model Legal Documents: Term Sheet for Series A Preferred Stock Financing.
• Richards, V. D. and Laughlin, E. J. (1980). A cash conversion cycle approach to liquidity analysis. Financial Management 9(1).
• SaaS Metrics Standards Board. Annual Recurring Revenue; Contracted ARR; Gross Revenue Retention; Net Revenue Retention.
• Sacks, D. (2020). The Burn Multiple.
• Scale Venture Partners (2020). A Primer on SaaS Sales Efficiency.
• SEC (2003). Conditions for Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures, Release 33-8176.
• SEC (2020). Commission Guidance on Management’s Discussion and Analysis, Release 33-10751.
• SEC Division of Corporation Finance (2014). Comment letter to Zendesk, Inc., 13 March; and Non-GAAP Financial Measures: Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations.
• Skok, D. SaaS Metrics 2.0: Detailed Definitions.
• Y Combinator (2013). Announcing the Safe, a Replacement for Convertible Notes; Post-Money Safe User Guide; SAFE vs convertible note.
• Zendesk, Inc. (2014). Form S-1 registration statement.

Terms with an outside owner cite the standard, statute, regulator or model document that defines them; company-defined terms cite the practitioners and filings that use them. The worked examples, and any ratio printed without a source, are derived from the cited figures or from the example’s own inputs; examples labelled hypothetical are illustrations. Definitions of SaaS and fund metrics follow the conventions of CX Cash’s metric pages. This glossary is general education and gives no legal, tax or investment advice.