unit-economicslisted

# Unit Economics ## When to Apply - Evaluating channel profitability - Before scaling any acquisition channel - When NDR or gross margin changes - Quarterly unit economics review - When the founder proposes increasing spend on a channel ## Core Framework ### CLV vs CAC Per Channel Track unit economics per channel, not in aggregate: ``` Channel Health Dashboard: LinkedIn Outreach: CAC: $45 | CLV: $2,400 | Ratio: 53x | Verdict: EXCELLENT NDR: 125% | Trend: stable Paid Ads (Google): CAC: $180 | CLV: $800 | Ratio: 4.4x | Verdict: ACCEPTABLE NDR: 95% | Trend: slight shrinkage Cold Email: CAC: $320 | CLV: $600 | Ratio: 1.9x | Verdict: DANGER NDR: 80% | Trend: leaking -> "Cold email has marginal unit economics. Propose: pause, reallocate budget to LinkedIn." ``` **Ratio benchmarks:** - < 1x: Losing money per customer (CRITICAL) - 1-3x: Marginal, needs improvement - 3-5x: Acceptable - 5x+: Healthy, scale candidate - 10x+: Excellent, aggressive scaling warranted ### NDR (Net Dollar Retention) Monitoring NDR measures whether existing cohorts grow or shrink over time: | NDR Range | Status | Action | |---|---|---| | >125% | Excellent | Cohorts growing fast. Strong expansion. Scale acquisition. | | 100-125% | Healthy | Cohorts stable or growing. Normal operation. | | 90-100% | Warning | Slight shrinkage. Investigate churn and downgrade causes. | | <90% | Leaky bucket | Cohorts shrinking significantly. Fix retention before acquisition. |