RAE_07Revenue Acceleration Engine™ 4–6 weeks build; monthly refresh

Unit Economics & Payback Engineering

Cohort LTV/CAC, payback, Magic Number, Burn Multiple and the Rule of 40 — engineered, not hoped for.

Why it matters

VCs and acquirers underwrite unit economics, not gross revenue. A startup with $10M ARR at 4-year payback is uninvestable; the same revenue at 12-month payback is a unicorn candidate. This module builds the unit economics that make capital cheap.

Scope covered

Fully-loaded CAC (blended + segmented + paid-only)

LTV by cohort (gross margin × ARPU × customer lifetime)

LTV/CAC ratio with channel + segment breakdown

CAC payback (months) — gross margin and contribution margin views

Magic Number (SaaS quick ratio for sales efficiency)

Burn Multiple (net burn / net new ARR)

Rule of 40 (growth + profit margin)

Contribution margin per customer / per cohort

Sensitivity analysis — what moves payback by 3 months?

Investor-grade unit economics tear-sheet

How we run it

Our methodology

A senior-led delivery sequence — not a template dump. Each phase is operated with your team, not handed over as a deck.

1
Unit economics baseline
Week 1
Compute CAC, LTV, payback, gross margin and contribution margin by segment, channel and cohort.
2
CAC payback engineering
Week 1–2
Decompose payback by channel and motion; surface the 2–3 levers that drop payback by 30–50%.
3
LTV & retention modelling
Week 2–3
Model LTV with cohort retention curves and gross-margin discipline; pressure-test against finance close.
4
Magic Number & efficiency
Week 3–4
Build SaaS Magic Number, Burn Multiple and Rule-of-40 dashboards with sector benchmarks.
5
Monthly review ritual
Week 4–6
Install the monthly unit-economics review with growth, finance and product owners — with action log.