Unit Economics
AnthropicOfficialPublished by Anthropic
- Skill
- Research and analysis
- Business and productivity
- Apache-2.0
- No issues found
AutoGineer summary
Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author
This skill provides a structured methodology for evaluating the financial health and revenue quality of SaaS and recurring revenue businesses. It guides users through the calculation of critical metrics such as LTV/CAC, net retention, and ARR cohorts, enabling a deep dive into customer economics. By synthesizing these metrics into a revenue quality score and benchmarking against industry standards, the skill helps identify growth durability, margin profiles, and potential red flags in a target company's financial performance.
What it does
- Calculates core SaaS metrics including LTV/CAC, payback periods, and net retention.
- Constructs cohort matrices to visualize customer retention and growth over time.
- Performs an ARR bridge analysis to track revenue movement across periods.
- Evaluates revenue quality through concentration analysis and margin waterfall assessments.
- Benchmarks company performance against established SaaS metrics like the Rule of 40.
- Synthesizes findings into a standardized revenue quality score for investment diligence.
When to use it
- During private equity due diligence of a software or subscription-based target.
- When assessing the sustainability and quality of a company's recurring revenue.
- When building a cohort analysis to understand long-term customer value.
- When evaluating the efficiency of customer acquisition and retention strategies.
Advantages
- Provides a standardized, repeatable framework for complex financial analysis.
- Helps uncover hidden issues often masked by aggregate financial metrics.
- Facilitates objective benchmarking against industry-standard SaaS performance indicators.
- Enables clear communication of financial health through structured reporting.
Usage examples
- “Analyze the unit economics for our latest SaaS acquisition target.”
- The agent will request the necessary financial data and proceed to calculate LTV/CAC, net retention, and cohort performance to assess the target's revenue quality.
- “Build a cohort analysis for our 2020-2023 customer base.”
- The agent will generate a cohort matrix showing retention and expansion trends for each annual group, indexed to their starting value.
Install
Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/anthropics/unit-economics/downloadUnzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:
mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip unit-economics.zip -d .agents/skills
Documentation by Anthropic
Unit Economics Analysis
Workflow
Step 1: Identify Business Model
Determine the revenue model to tailor the analysis:
SaaS / Subscription: ARR, net retention, cohorts
Recurring services: Contract value, renewal rates, upsell
Transaction / usage-based: Revenue per transaction, volume trends, take rate
Hybrid: Break down by revenue stream
Step 2: Core Metrics
ARR / Revenue Quality
ARR bridge: Beginning ARR → New → Expansion → Contraction → Churn → Ending ARR
ARR by cohort: Vintage analysis — how does each annual cohort retain and grow?
Revenue concentration: Top 10/20/50 customers as % of total
Revenue by type: Recurring vs. non-recurring vs. professional services
Contract structure: ACV distribution, multi-year %, auto-renewal %
Customer Economics
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): Total S&M spend / new customers acquired
LTV (Lifetime Value): (ARPU × Gross Margin) / Churn Rate
LTV:CAC ratio: Target >3x for healthy businesses
CAC payback period: Months to recover acquisition cost
Blended vs. segmented: Break down by customer segment (enterprise vs. SMB vs. mid-market)
Retention & Expansion
Gross retention: % of beginning ARR retained (excludes expansion)
Net retention (NDR): % of beginning ARR retained including expansion
Logo churn: % of customers lost
Dollar churn: % of revenue lost (often different from logo churn)
Expansion rate: Upsell + cross-sell as % of beginning ARR
Cohort Analysis
Build a cohort matrix showing:
| Cohort | Year 0 | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $1.0M | $1.1M | $1.2M | $1.1M | |
| 2021 | $1.5M | $1.7M | $1.8M | ||
| 2022 | $2.0M | $2.3M | |||
| 2023 | $3.0M |
Show both absolute $ and indexed (Year 0 = 100%) views.
Margin Waterfall
Revenue → Gross Profit → Contribution Margin → EBITDA
Fully loaded unit economics: what does it cost to acquire, serve, and retain a customer?
Gross margin by revenue stream (subscription vs. services vs. other)
Step 3: Benchmarking
Compare unit economics to relevant benchmarks:
SaaS Rule of 40: Growth rate + EBITDA margin > 40%
SaaS Magic Number: Net new ARR / prior period S&M spend > 0.75x
NDR benchmarks: Best-in-class >120%, good >110%, concerning <100%
LTV:CAC: Best-in-class >5x, good >3x, concerning <2x
Gross retention: Best-in-class >95%, good >90%, concerning <85%
CAC payback: Best-in-class <12mo, good <18mo, concerning >24mo
Step 4: Revenue Quality Score
Synthesize into a revenue quality assessment:
| Factor | Score (1-5) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring % | ||
| Net retention | ||
| Customer concentration | ||
| Cohort stability | ||
| Growth durability | ||
| Margin profile | ||
| Overall |
Step 5: Output
Excel workbook with ARR bridge, cohort matrix, unit economics dashboard
Summary slide with key metrics and benchmarks
Red flags and areas for further diligence
Important Notes
Always ask for raw customer-level data if available — aggregate metrics can hide problems
NDR above 100% can mask high gross churn if expansion is strong enough — always show both
Cohort analysis is the single most important view for revenue quality — push for this data
Differentiate between contracted ARR and actual recognized revenue
For usage-based models, focus on consumption trends and expansion patterns rather than traditional ARR metrics
Professional services revenue should be evaluated separately — it's not recurring and margins are typically lower
Files
- ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer926 B
- LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer11.1 KiB
- SKILL.md4.1 KiB
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Requirements and compatibility
Written for: Claude Code, Claude apps
Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta
“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.
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Attribution and licence
- Published by
- Anthropic
- Publisher
- Anthropic (Official)
- Source
- anthropics/financial-services · plugins/vertical-plugins/private-equity/skills/unit-economics · commit 6056506
- Licence
- Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
- LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
- ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
- Synced
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Download ZIP
The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download unit-economics.zip