Especially if you’re raising Seed, Series A, or Series B
If you’re a founder preparing for a fundraise—whether it’s your first seed round or a bigger Series A—you’ll need more than a slick pitch deck and a strong vision. You’ll need to ensure that you have prepared the KPIs investors look for.
Investors will go straight to the numbers. And if your numbers aren’t solid, the deal starts to wobble.
Here’s a breakdown of the top financial metrics investors actually care about—and what they’re reading between the lines when they ask for them.
1. MRR / ARR (Monthly or Annual Recurring Revenue)
This metric demonstrate the predictability of the business as well as traction. Investors want to know what’s consistent. Recurring revenue (not one-off sales) shows you’ve built something sustainable.
You’ll want to, show your MRR growth over time, break it down (new vs. retained for example) and highlight churn and how much revenue is actually locked in.
If your MRR fluctuates or has gaps, you’ll want a clear story behind it.
2. Gross margin
This demonstrates how profitable your product is before overheads. Gross margin = Revenue – Cost of Sales
Tech/SaaS founders, investors want to see margins in the 70–90% range.
E-commerce or product-based businesses will be lower (20–40%), but you should show a path to improvement.
Break it down by product or channel if needed. If your main product is low-margin but add-ons are high, make that strategy clear.
3. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
This demonstrates how much you’re spending to get a customer. Investors want to know that your CAC isn’t a black hole.
Ideally, you want to show CAC across the last 6–12 months, if possible, break it down by acquisition channel and they’ll ask: Is your CAC going up as you scale? If yes, they’ll want to know why.
4. CAC Payback Period
This shows how quickly you earn back what you spent on a customer.
In general, 12 months or less is healthy. If it’s longer, you’ll need a plan for improving it.
You want to show a clear path to profitability per customer, not just growth for growth’s sake.
5. LTV (Lifetime Value) & LTV:CAC Ratio
This KPI demonstrates the long-term value vs acquisition cost
Investors love a solid LTV:CAC ratio of 3:1 or better. But if you’re early-stage, it’s fine if it’s not quite there—just be transparent and conservative in your assumptions.
Don’t overinflate LTV with dreamy projections. Use real data where you can.
6. Burn Rate & Runway
It demonstrates how fast you’re spending cash and how long it’ll last
Investors will want to know, your current monthly burn and how many months you’ve got left with and without new funding (cash runway)
This is about trust. If you say you have 18 months of runway and burn through it in 9, they’ll remember.
7. Contribution Margin
Gross profit (or loss) less the sales and marketing (acquisition) costs. This contribution margin over revenue is the contribution margin.
It goes beyond gross margin and shows how much money is left to cover fixed costs and profit. Negative contribution margin? You’ll need to explain why you’re scaling before proving your unit economics work.
8. Break-even Point
When you’ll stop needing external funding to survive.
Investors want to know when the business will be self-sustaining, or at least when your growth will fund itself. Show this in your financial model—and make it credible.
Basically, Investors want to see a return on their investment. Full stop.
If they invest £1M, they want confidence they can get £10M+ back in the next few years.
Your job is to demonstrate how your numbers, growth strategy, and financial model make that possible.
That means telling a clear, commercial story through your metrics—not just handing over a spreadsheet and hoping for the best.
Need help with this? You’re not alone.
At Fast Growth Consulting, we help founders prepare for investor conversations with financials that build trust. Our Go-To-Market Finance Checklist covers these metrics and a few more things you should have ready before starting a brand new fundraise.
📥 Download the free checklist here.
📞 Or, if you’re raising Seed or Series A now or planning to raise soon—book a call with me and we can chat through how to get your financials investor-ready or to learn more, visit our founder services page.