Blog · Forecast and pipeline · SaaS
The ten questions a SaaS chief revenue officer puts to the sales and success teams about existing customers, what is net revenue retention by cohort and which cohort broke, which accounts renew inside 120 days under their seats, is the expansion pipeline on the accounts with whitespace, which onboardings are behind the milestone that predicts renewal, what is whitespace reconciled to ARR, which accounts are over their cap, which accounts have gone untouched, what do bookings, billings and revenue each say, which deals slipped three times, and what changed, each with the table from the subscription ledger, the usage export and the CRM, and the answer to send back.
A SaaS CRO reports net revenue retention as one number and is asked by the board which customers it is made of. The subscription ledger, the usage export and the CRM hold the cohorts, the seats, the whitespace and the pipeline as tables. This guide is the ten questions, the tables, and the answer to send back.
| # | The question | The table | Identity | Send back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is NRR by cohort, and which broke? | Cohort table: expansion, contraction, churn, reactivation; gross beside net | Cohorts sum to the bridge | Company NRR |
| 2 | Which accounts renew soon under their seats? | Seat utilisation and trend; renewals inside 120 days; ARR at risk | Seats × price = ARR | Renewal dates |
| 3 | Is the expansion pipeline on the whitespace? | Pursuit share per rep; gaps with no opportunity; opportunities with no gap | Every expansion opportunity on a grid account | Expansion pipeline total |
| 4 | Which onboardings are behind? | Days past the milestone that separates renewed from churned | Accounts with outcomes measurable | Milestones treated alike |
| 5 | What is whitespace, reconciled? | Grid: expected empties valued; filled cells sum to ARR | Filled cells = ARR | Whitespace as a slide number |
| 6 | Which accounts are over cap? | Active over contracted; expansion value | Same as 2 | Seat counts |
| 7 | Which accounts are untouched? | Accounts past cadence per rep, by ARR | Assigned accounts sum | Activity counts |
| 8 | What do bookings, billings and revenue each say? | The bridge, with the definition version | Bookings = Σ billings = Σ revenue per contract | One word for three measures |
| 9 | Which deals slipped three times? | Slip count list; slip-adjusted forecast beside raw | Every deal on one line | Face value forecast |
| 10 | What changed? | The movements page | Every line cites | Narrative |
CRO: What is NRR? Response: 101 percent company; 126 for 2024 Q1, 100 for 2024 Q3, 82 for 2025 Q1, gross 72. The 2025 Q1 cohort broke at month six. Table 1. CRO: Which of those renew soon? Response: Account 4471: 34 percent of seats used from 71, renews in 88 days, $120,000 at risk. Its first integration was never connected. Tables 2 and 4. CRO: Is anyone working the expansion there? Response: No opportunity on 4471's $430,000 of whitespace; rep R-04's pursuit share is 21 percent. Table 3.
Three tables, one cohort, one account, one rep.
Company NRR. The failing cohort inside the average.
Usage not joined to contracts. Seats used unknown at renewal.
Expansion pipeline read alone. On the accounts reps like, not the whitespace.
Bookings called revenue. The board's question about the bridge.
Covirage produces the ten tables from the subscription ledger, the usage export, the contract register and the CRM snapshots, with the identities checked. The SaaS page describes the setup, and the net revenue retention guide covers the first table.
Net revenue retention by cohort, because the company figure of 101 percent can hold a cohort at 126 and one at 82, and the 82 is a year of customers sold or onboarded differently. The cohort table, reconciled to the bridge, is the first table.
Seat utilisation, over-cap and onboarding milestones do. NRR, whitespace, the bridge and slip counts come from the subscription ledger, the contract register and the CRM snapshots. All exports, on account identifiers.
Cohorts' movements sum to the ARR bridge; contracted seats times price equals ARR; whitespace grid filled cells sum to ARR; every expansion opportunity is on an account in the grid; bookings equal the sum of billings equal the sum of revenue over a contract's term. A retention figure that does not reconcile to the bridge is sent back.