Trailing Period

The Trailing Period setting enables you to view your metrics over a longer time frame, which can help smooth out monthly fluctuations and reveal how a company is trending. Trailing Period is off by default for all charts (except Retention) and can be set to 3, 6, or 12 months. There are two different ways Trailing Period is applied, depending on the type of metric.

Growth Accounting Metrics

Applies to ARR (Grow Accounting), MRR (Grow Accounting), Customers (Grow Accounting), Net New ARR, New vs Retained ACV, Retention, and New Sales ARR vs S&M

When applied to Growth Accounting metrics, Trailing Period changes which month is used as the reference when growth categories (New Sales, Net New, Expansion, Resurrection, Contraction, and Churn) are calculated. For example, in September 2022 MRR growth categories are calculated by comparing customers’ MRR in September 2022 to August 2022. However, if Trailing Period is set to 3 months September 2022 will be compared to June 2022, 3 months prior. Following this example:

• Retained MRR: The lesser of June and September MRR from customers active in June
• New Sales MRR: September MRR from customers added in July, August, and September
• Resurrected MRR: September MRR from customers active previous to June, not active in June, and active in September
• Expansion MRR: The increase in MRR from June to September from customers active in June
• Contraction MRR: The decrease in MRR from June to September from customers active in June and September
• Churned MRR: June MRR for customers not active in September

Note: New Sales MRR will be the sum of MRR from new customers as of September. Expansion between sign-up and the end of September will still be included in New Sales MRR.

Quarterly and Annual metrics calculations work the same as monthly, and use the last month of Quarter/Year as the reference point. If the most recent Quarter isn’t complete, the Trailing Period will be calculated from the last complete month of the Quarter.

The above logic applies to all charts that contain Growth Accounting components. The only exception is New Sales ARR vs S&M, where S&M expenses are summed across the period.

Ratio Metrics

Applies to CAC, Magic Number, CAC Payback Period, Gross Margin, Burn and Runway

For metrics that are ratios, the numerator and the denominator use the sum of trailing 3, 6, or 12 months. For example, if the Trailing Period is 6 months for Burn Multiple, in September:

Quarterly and Annual metrics calculations work the same as monthly, and use the last month of Quarter/Year as the reference point. If the most recent Quarter isn’t complete, the Trailing Period will be calculated from the last complete month of the Quarter.

Note that in CAC Payback, the “New Sales MRR” part of the calculation uses the Growth Accounting Methodology done above.

Burn & Runway is an exception to some of the above rules: Burn will calculate as the average burn over the selected trailing period. In monthly aggregation Burn will be the average monthly burn, but in Quarterly/Annual aggregation it will be the average Quarterly/Annual Burn. Runway will always be the current cash balance divided by the average monthly burn over the selected period.

 The S&M Offset can be used in conjunction with Trailing Period. For example, CAC Payback for September with a 6 Month Trailing Period and 3 month S&M offset will use new customers from April to September and S&M expenses from January to June.

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