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Rocio Romero ·
Investors seek solid data beyond social media popularity. Learn the three essential marketing metrics—CAC, LTV, and Churn Rate—that prove your startup’s viability and growth potential in your pitch deck.
You have an incredible product, a committed team, and a vision that could change the market. But when you sit in front of an investor, it all boils down to one fundamental question: «Is this business viable?». And no, the answer isn't in your thousands of Instagram followers or that post that went viral.
Investors have seen hundreds of brilliant ideas fail under their own weight. That is why they look for patterns, data that proves your growth engine is real, predictable, and, above all, profitable.
In this article, we will focus exclusively on the three marketing metrics for investors that your pitch deck must include. We will teach you how to calculate them, understand them, and, most importantly, present them to prove that your startup is not just a passionate project, but a solid investment opportunity.
To demonstrate the viability of your marketing, you need to focus on three KPIs that, together, tell a complete story: how much it costs you to win a customer, how much value that customer brings you, and whether you can keep them.
The CAC is what you invest in marketing and sales to acquire a new customer. It is the metric that proves you have a plan for predictable growth.
Over a given period (month or quarter), add up your marketing and sales costs and divide them by the number of new customers acquired.
CAC = Total Marketing and Sales Cost / Number of New Customers Acquired
LTV represents the total revenue you expect from a customer throughout your entire relationship with them. It is proof that your business doesn't just acquire users, but generates real, recurring value.
LTV = (Average Monthly Ticket) × (Average Customer Lifetime in months)
For these models, the most used formula is based on three components:
Average Order Value (AOV): How much does a customer spend, on average, each time they buy from you?
AOV = Total Revenue / Number of Orders
Purchase Frequency (F): How many times does a customer buy from you, on average, in a given period (usually a year)?
F = Total Number of Orders / Number of Unique Customers
Customer Lifetime (T): For how many years, on average, does a customer keep buying from you? This is the hardest data to estimate at the beginning. It can be calculated with historical data or, if you are a new startup, by making an estimate based on the market (for example, 1-3 years).
With these three variables, you can calculate the LTV:
LTV = AOV × F × T
A low LTV? Maybe the problem is in your branding. Here we tell you how to turn a business idea into a brand that retains customers.)
Churn is the percentage of customers who leave you in a period. It is the most honest metric in your pitch deck: it tells investors if your product truly makes people fall in love and solves a problem.
Churn Rate = (Number of Lost Customers / Number of Customers at the Beginning of the Period) × 100
The LTV/CAC ratio is the ultimate indicator of the health and profitability of your marketing.
A general rule accepted in the startup world is that a healthy LTV/CAC ratio should be at least 3:1.
This means that for every euro you invest in acquiring a customer, you get three back over the course of their lifetime.
Now that you know where to look, it is just as important to know what to ignore. Vanity metrics are those that make you feel good but do not correlate with revenue or profitability.
The value of these metrics lies in the marketing and advertising goals of each brand; and therefore, they are also important. But honestly, they don't interest investors.
Do you want to achieve results with your marketing strategy? Contact our sales department and let's talk.
