SaaS dashboards
SaaS metrics dashboard examples
In short
What a SaaS metrics dashboard is
A SaaS metrics dashboard is a single screen showing how recurring revenue is growing, what is holding it back, and what that growth costs. Its core is MRR broken into movements, new, expansion, contraction and churn, because a total that rose can hide a churn problem a smaller new-business month would have exposed. Around that sit retention, the cost of acquiring a customer, and burn.
| Dashboard | The question it answers | The numbers on it |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS Metrics | Is recurring revenue growing for the right reasons? | Net New MRR, New MRR, Expansion MRR, Net MRR Retention |
| Portfolio KPI Rollup | Which portfolio companies need a conversation this month? | Revenue, Revenue Growth, Gross Margin, Runway in months |
Every one is a Mammoth template, shown below on the sample dataset it ships with.
The examples
Two SaaS metrics dashboard examples
Each of these is a Mammoth template, captured as it renders on the sample dataset it ships with, so every figure on them is illustrative rather than a company result. The SaaS board and the three reporting formats below share one 162-row dataset of monthly metrics by plan tier and region; the portfolio rollup reads twenty companies' monthly packs.
Example 01
SaaS Metrics
Is recurring revenue growing for the right reasons?
MRR and net new MRR by month, new MRR by plan tier and region, and expansion set against churn, with net MRR retention as a grid of tier by region. The second page puts acquisition cost, revenue and burn beside the growth, so a good month can be checked against what it cost.
What is on it· 2 pages · How we grow / What growth costs
- MRR over time
- Net new MRR by month
- New MRR by tier and region
- Expansion against churn, by tier
- Net MRR retention by tier and region
Your data needsDashboard
- a revenue or money column
- a category (~3 values)
Sample data: illustrative figures, not business results. Example 02
Portfolio KPI Rollup
Which portfolio companies need a conversation this month?
Twenty companies' monthly packs in one view: portfolio ARR and cash as trends, revenue by sector and stage, and the shortest runways first. The second page ranks burn and burn multiple by company, so the watchlist is a sorted list rather than a feeling.
What is on it· 2 pages · The portfolio / Where to look
- Portfolio ARR over time
- Cash across the portfolio
- Revenue by sector and stage
- Monthly growth by sector and stage
- Shortest runways
Your data needsDashboard
- a revenue or money column
- a category (~7 values)
Sample data: illustrative figures, not business results.
Other formats
The same numbers, for the board and investors
A board and an investor read these numbers as prose and slides more often than as a dashboard. The board report, the monthly investor update and the board deck are built from the same 162 rows as the SaaS board above.
Sample data: illustrative figures, not business results. Startup Board Report
What does the board read before the meeting?
The period for a board: growth, retention, efficiency and burn.
Executive · Document
Sample data: illustrative figures, not business results. Monthly Investor Update
And the monthly note to investors?
The month for investors: highlights, customers and cash out the door.
Executive · Document
Sample data: illustrative figures, not business results. Startup Board Deck
What goes on the screen in the room?
The venture board meeting: growth, retention, efficiency and burn.
Executive · Presentation
Design notes
What goes on a SaaS metrics dashboard
Four things the examples above have in common. They matter more than which chart you pick.
MRR as movements, not a total
Ending MRR says where you are.
New, expansion, contraction and churned MRR say why, and they are the numbers a board asks about. A month where MRR rose can still be the month churn doubled, and a single total hides that until the next quarter.
Positions read at the month, flows added up
MRR and customer count are positions at a date; new MRR and burn are amounts over a period.
Added across twelve months, month-end MRR reads twelve times too big. Both boards chart the positions as trends, one point per month, and total only the flows.
Retention by segment, not blended
Net MRR retention and logo churn are rates, so they are averaged rather than summed, and shown by plan tier and region.
An Enterprise tier retaining above 100% can carry a Starter tier losing customers every month, and the blended figure reads as fine.
Growth next to what it cost
Acquisition cost per customer and sales and marketing spend sit on the same board as new MRR.
Growth bought at a rising CAC looks the same as efficient growth on a revenue chart; the second page is where the difference shows.
The metrics
The metrics a SaaS dashboard is built from
Six numbers, and the first is a position while the rest are movements or rates. Treating a position as a movement is the most common way a SaaS board ends up wrong.
| Metric | What it answers | What your data needs |
|---|---|---|
| MRR | Where does recurring revenue stand? | A month-end figure per customer or per segment. It is a position, so it is read at a month and never added across months. |
| Net new MRR | How much did recurring revenue grow this month? | New, expansion, contraction and churned MRR recorded separately. Net new is their sum, and each part answers a different question. |
| Net MRR retention | Are existing customers growing or shrinking? | Starting MRR for the period and what those same customers pay at the end, with new customers left out. Counting new business in it inflates retention. |
| Logo churn | How many customers are we losing? | Customers at the start of the month and customers lost during it. A rate, so it is averaged across segments rather than added. |
| Customer acquisition cost | What does a new customer cost to win? | Sales and marketing spend and new customers for the same period. A month with no new customers has no CAC, which is different from a CAC of zero. |
| Net burn | How much cash does the month consume? | Costs less revenue for the month, with shared costs allocated the same way each month. Runway then needs the cash balance, read at month end. |
From example to live dashboard
Pretty is easy. Current and true is the hard part.
Any of these can be drawn in a slide. What makes one worth keeping is the five steps underneath it, and they are the same five whichever example you start from.
- 01
Connect the source
The dashboard reads the system, not an export somebody saved to their desktop. 100+ tested connectors, plus anything with a REST API.
- 02
Prepare it once
Cleaning, joining and reshaping are recorded as steps you can read, change and re-run, not a formula buried three sheets deep.
- 03
Check it before anyone sees it
Data checks run with the refresh and flag the rows that fail, so a broken upstream file shows up as an alert rather than as a wrong number in a meeting.
- 04
Put it on a schedule
Refresh on a schedule and the dashboard stays current on its own. Starter refreshes weekly, Team daily, and Pro every three hours.
- 05
Publish it and send the link
Public, password-protected or sign-in only. Every sharing mode is available on every plan, including the free one.
Sharing
Everyone can see it.
Nobody pays to look.
Most dashboard tools charge for every person who opens one, which is why so many dashboards end up as a screenshot pasted into a message. Mammoth charges for the people who build. Viewers are unlimited and free on every plan, including the free one.
You pay for
The people who build
Anyone connecting a source, preparing data or publishing a dashboard counts as a platform user.
You never pay for
The people who look
Viewers are unlimited and free on every plan, including the free one. A board, a client list or a whole company: the number does not change the bill.
Plans differ in how many builders and published dashboards a workspace gets. Drafts, viewers and every sharing mode are unlimited and free on all four. Full pricing.
SaaS dashboard questions
What should a SaaS metrics dashboard show?
Where does the data come from?
What is the difference between the board report and the investor update?
What is the portfolio rollup for?
Can the board and investors see it without a licence?
Last reviewed against the template catalogue.
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