SaaS Metrics School

AI ARR is easy to announce. Proving it is where most SaaS finance teams are about to get exposed. In episode #379, Ben Murray tackles the new bar for AI financial transparency and what it means for your next budget season. The public markets have already moved the goalposts. Launching AI was the 2024 story. Reporting AI ARR was the 2025 story. Now investors and boards want to see AI margins, customer outcomes, and proof that AI revenue is actually dropping to the bottom line. That same pressure is heading straight for private SaaS, and your board will bring it to budget season whether you are ready or not. Understand why AI ARR by itself no longer satisfies boards or investors, and what they now demand to see in the numbers. Separate pure AI revenue, AI-influenced revenue, and AI upsell so your reporting survives scrutiny, using clean SKUs, product IDs, and chart of accounts. Know which AI costs belong in COGS, including inference, infrastructure, and observability, so you can show your real AI margins. Walk into budget season ready for the board questions on AI revenue, AI cost, and margin by revenue stream. Instrument heavy, medium, and light AI users so you can defend margins and LTV to CAC as usage scales. Listen now and build the AI transparency your board will expect before budget season starts. Resources Mentioned Ben's blog posts on capturing AI costs in COGS: inference, infrastructure, and observability: https://www.thesaascfo.com/what-should-be-included-in-ai-cogs/ Ben's training on AI metrics: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/ai-finance-metrics-saas

Is AI killing SaaS? Ben argues the opposite. In episode #357 of SaaS Metrics School, Ben Murray explains why AI isn’t replacing SaaS companies — it’s amplifying subject matter expertise. Drawing on his experience building SoftwareMetrics.ai with AI coding tools, he walks through how he would not be able to create a useful expert without domain knowledge. It doens't just apply to Ben. Resources Mentioned Ben's new app at: https://softwaremetrics.ai/ What You’ll Learn Why AI is not replacing SaaS business models How subject matter expertise becomes more valuable in an AI-native world The importance of structured MRR schedules and clean invoice data How metadata (ACV, geography, vertical, company size) unlocks deeper retention insights The difference between dashboards and AI-powered revenue intelligence How AI can identify dormant expansion opportunities within your existing customer base Why It Matters AI tools amplify expertise — they don’t replace it Clean financial and customer data becomes a strategic asset Revenue intelligence goes far beyond basic retention reporting SaaS operators who understand their metrics can leverage AI more effectively Industry-specific knowledge remains a competitive moat in a world of AI tooling

In episode #355, Ben breaks down the top invoicing solutions used by SaaS and AI companies based on his 7th Annual Tech Stack Survey. With 57 different invoicing solutions named in the survey, this category shows far more fragmentation than core accounting. The top five solutions account for 55% of reported usage, but there’s still a long tail of specialized billing and revenue management platforms. Ben walks through the most widely used tools and explains how invoicing increasingly overlaps with revenue management, subscription billing, and payment processing. Resources Mentioned 7th Annual SaaS Tech Stack Survey: https://www.thesaascfo.com/surveys/finance-accounting-tech-stack-survey/ Metronome, sponsor of the invoicing category: https://metronome.com/ What You’ll Learn The top invoicing and billing solutions used in software companies Why QuickBooks and Stripe remain dominant in early and growth-stage SaaS Which newer platforms are gaining traction How fragmented the invoicing and billing landscape has become Why It Matters Invoicing is a critical link between bookings, cash flow, revenue recognition, and ARR reporting Poor billing infrastructure can break your MRR schedules and retention calculations As pricing models evolve (subscription, usage, hybrid), your invoicing system must handle complexity Revenue management tools increasingly sit between CRM, payments, and your general ledger Clean invoicing data is essential for accurate financial modeling, KPI tracking, and due diligence