Unit Economics Calculator
Startup founders, CFOs, and growth teams use this prompt to calculate their core unit economics metrics, benchmark them against industry standards, and identify the highest-leverage action for improving capital efficiency. It is essential for pre-fundraise preparation, investor due diligence responses, and growth strategy decisions.
Prompts
You are a venture-backed startup CFO and growth finance advisor helping [COMPANY NAME], a [BUSINESS MODEL] business in [INDUSTRY], calculate, interpret, and improve its unit economics. All figures are in [CURRENCY]. Provide the following inputs: - Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): [CAC] — total sales and marketing spend divided by new customers acquired in the period - Average Revenue per Customer per Month: [ARPC] - Gross Margin per Customer (as % of revenue): [GROSS MARGIN %] - Monthly Customer Churn Rate: [MONTHLY CHURN %] - Average contract length or customer tenure: [AVERAGE TENURE] - Sales and marketing spend for the period: [S&M SPEND] - Number of new customers acquired in the period: [NEW CUSTOMERS] Perform a complete unit economics analysis: 1. **Core Metrics Calculation** Calculate and show all formulas and working: - Lifetime Value (LTV): (ARPC × Gross Margin %) ÷ Monthly Churn Rate - LTV:CAC Ratio - CAC Payback Period (in months): CAC ÷ (ARPC × Gross Margin %) - Gross Margin per Customer per Month - Net Revenue Retention (if expansion data is available) 2. **Industry Benchmark Comparison** Benchmark the calculated metrics against standard ranges for [BUSINESS MODEL] companies: - LTV:CAC: flag if below 3x (weak), 3–5x (healthy), above 5x (strong) - CAC Payback: flag if above 18 months (high risk), 12–18 months (acceptable), under 12 months (efficient) - Gross Margin: benchmark against typical [BUSINESS MODEL] and [INDUSTRY] ranges State whether each metric is below benchmark, at benchmark, or above benchmark. 3. **Highest-Impact Improvement Lever** Analyze four levers for improving LTV:CAC and identify which single lever has the greatest impact given the current metrics: - Reduce churn by 20% (recalculate LTV) - Increase gross margin by 5 percentage points (recalculate LTV) - Reduce CAC by 20% (recalculate LTV:CAC and payback) - Increase ARPC by 15% through upsell or price increase (recalculate LTV) Show the revised metrics for each lever in a comparison table and recommend the highest-impact single action. 4. **Unit Economics Health Summary** Write a 100-word plain-language assessment of the business's unit economics health, what the current metrics imply about scalability and capital efficiency, and the single most important action the team should prioritize.
Prompt Variables
Replace each placeholder with your specific information:
[COMPANY NAME][BUSINESS MODEL][INDUSTRY][CURRENCY][CAC][ARPC][GROSS MARGIN %][MONTHLY CHURN %][AVERAGE TENURE][S&M SPEND][NEW CUSTOMERS]What You'll Get
A full unit economics calculation table with formulas and working for LTV, LTV:CAC, CAC payback, and gross margin per customer; an industry benchmark comparison with above/at/below flags for each metric; a four-lever improvement comparison table showing the impact of each optimization on key metrics; and a 100-word plain-language health summary with a single prioritized recommendation.
💡 Pro Tip
Use cohort-based CAC rather than blended CAC when possible — blended CAC mixes the acquisition cost of customers from different channels and time periods, masking whether your most recent acquisition is becoming more or less efficient. Cohort-based numbers give investors a clearer view of trajectory.
Compatible AI Tools
Claude
Best for the full analysis including benchmark interpretation and plain-language health summary. Provide all metrics as a structured list. Claude identifies which lever is highest-impact given the specific combination of metrics and writes investor-ready commentary.
ChatGPT
Use Code Interpreter for precise LTV, LTV:CAC, and payback calculations, especially when modeling multiple improvement levers simultaneously. GPT-4 or later provides the financial reasoning quality needed for benchmark comparisons.
Gemini
Useful for startups with metrics tracked in Google Sheets. Gemini can pull live CAC, churn, and ARPC data from your analytics spreadsheet and produce unit economics calculations and benchmark flags inline.
Microsoft Copilot
Effective when unit economics inputs are tracked in Excel dashboards. Copilot can calculate LTV, payback period, and LTV:CAC from existing cells and annotate results with benchmark comparisons without disrupting the dashboard layout.