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SaaS Metrics School

Ben Murray

Ben Murray brings you actionable SaaS metrics lessons that he has learned through years of being in the SaaS CFO trenches. Whether you are new to SaaS or a SaaS veteran, learn the latest SaaS and AI metrics, finance, and accounting tactics that drive financial transparency and improved decision-making.

Ben’s SaaS metrics blog consistently rates a 70+ NPS, and his templates have been downloaded over 100,000 times. There is always something to learn about SaaS and AI metrics.

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  • 22 episodes
  • Avg 5 min
  • English

Episodes 22

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  • April 26 · 7 min

    Salesforce Invented a New KPI on an Earnings Call — Here's Why You Should Too

    Salesforce just invented a new metric on their latest earnings call — not because they needed one, but because Wall Street didn't have the vocabulary to value what they built. In episode #366, Ben Murray breaks down Salesforce's Q4 FY2026 earnings call — not the financials, but the narrative architecture: a new unit of measurement for AI value (the AWU), a framing strategy designed to neutralize the biggest fear enterprise buyers have about AI, and three customer testimonials brought live onto the call. This is the communication playbook every SaaS operator can steal when explaining AI to boards, investors, and customers — at a time when the old metrics (tokens, MAUs, queries) no longer tell the value story. Why Salesforce introduced the Agentic Work Unit (AWU) — and what 2.4 billion AWUs against 19 trillion tokens reveals about the limits of token-based AI metrics The AWU-to-token ratio as a customer health signal — and why this is the metric your AI-enabled SaaS dashboard is missing The "humans and agents working together" framing that lets you sell AI capabilities without triggering the "we're going to lay people off" deal-killer How Wyndham's 8,300-hotel deployment, SharkNinja's 250,000 holiday-season engagements, and Lemkin's SaaStr transformation prove ROI when slides can't How to expand your SaaS metrics dashboard from 5 pillars to 6 — and the AI-era KPIs (AWUs, AI-attributed ARR, input-to-output ratios, customer outcome metrics) that belong in the new pillar Tune in before your next board meeting or AI sales pitch — and steal the vocabulary that's about to define the category. Resources Mentioned Salesforce Q4 FY2026 earnings call transcript Ben's 5-pillar SaaS metrics dashboard — and the upcoming 6-pillar AI-era expansion: https://www.thesaascfo.com/downloads/five-pillar-metrics-framework/

  • April 25 · 5 min

    Should You Price on Outcomes? What HubSpot's $0.50 Bet Means for Your SaaS Revenue Model

    HubSpot's 50-cent bet may have just forced every SaaS founder to ask whether their current revenue model is still defensible. In episode #365, Ben Murray breaks down HubSpot's April 2nd announcement — slashing its Breeze customer agent from $1 to 50¢ per resolved conversation, plus a shift on its prospecting agent to $1 per qualified lead — and what this risk transfer means for SaaS revenue, forecasting, and the metrics CFOs need to start tracking. With Salesforce Agent Force hitting $800M in Q4 run rate and over 60% of bookings coming from existing-customer expansion, the question is no longer whether AI is reshaping SaaS pricing, but how fast and how unevenly. Ben pulls in his SEC filings research and a sharp counterpoint from Salesforce's own earnings call to show why the "SaaS is dead" narrative is overplayed. The two HubSpot pricing changes that signal a true risk transfer — and the 65% resolution rate (90% for top performers) that makes the bet credible Why "75% of AI agent vendors have no systematic approach to pricing" should put your pricing committee on notice this quarter The forecasting and metrics shift CFOs need to make as outcome-based pricing erodes predictable usage-based revenue — and the new KPIs that replace the old ones How Salesforce Agent Force's $800M Q4 run rate and 60%+ expansion bookings prove the AI revenue thesis — while Robin Washington's earnings call comment complicates the seat-erosion story The pricing reality check Ben pulled from analyzing 100+ SEC filings — and what it means for whether your ICP actually fits outcome-based pricing Listen before your next pricing committee meeting — and bring your CFO. The forecasting implications alone are worth the six minutes. Resources Mentioned Article from: https://thesaaslibrary.com/per-seat-pricing-dead-saas-2026/ SaaStr post by Jason Lemkin: https://www.saastr.com/salesforce-now-has-3-pricing-models-for-agentforce-and-maybe-right-now-thats-the-way-to-do-it/ Salesforce Q4 earnings call Ben's blog post: https://www.thesaascfo.com/your-ai-feature-is-quietly-destroying-your-gross-margin/

Showing 21–22 of 22 episodes