Finance 1/3: Automated sales ledger

In SaaS companies, automation of financial processes is important due to the typically high transaction volumes in the industry. This is especially true for processes of incoming customer cash flow, such as billing and credit card charges. Without automation, volumes and the associated workload may grow unreasonably large relative to the company’s size.

Finance 2/3: Setting up the right metric

There has been a lot of talk about North Star metrics lately. It’s true that your business is better able to focus on a specific goal by focusing only on North Star metrics. But you shouldn't do basic metrics unless you want to lose benchmarking data. SaaS companies need to understand the typical metrics in order to interpret revenue and profitability formation. These results should be compared with other SaaS companies. The most typical metrics are:

1. MRR and Churn = Monthly Recurring Revenue means the monthly recurring level of turnover. It is important to monitor changes in MRR during the month - MRR churn, additional sales and price changes to existing customers, sales to new customers, etc.

2. CAC, LTV and Average Payback Period = Average Customer Relationship Life Value = LTV - CAC. CAC = Customer Acquisition Costs, LTV = Customer Lifetime value.

Finance 3/3: The reporting process is iterated and modified as needed

The classic Excel + Powerpoint combination works great as a reporting process, and we’re happy to help make it happen. But as a Greenstep customer, you also have a variety of reporting tools for financial and metric reporting. This core is built on the top of PowerBI, which helps visualize Dashboard-type desired metrics. The PowerBI view can also be shared with various stakeholders such as investors, the board and the management team.

In the book Blitzscaling authors compare early-stage startups to pirates: scarce resources, no brand awareness at all, so risks must be taken to reach the goal. At this point, the culture of the small team is automatically built thanks to the mutual chemistry of the pirate crew. But as your business grows, you suddenly have things on your balance sheet and staff that you don’t want to lose. At this point, the company needs to grow up to adulthood and you need to lead more people. Again, the grown-up Blitzscaling companies can be directly compared to the entire fleet in terms of both numbers of employees and the decision-making process.

In other words, as a company grows, so do its HR needs. An employment contract template found on Google may seem all-encompassing at first, but it’s worth talking to an HR professional so there won’t be any surprises. Too often, it is noticed that, for example, a non-compete term or a period of notice is absent from an employment contract when a person has already resigned.

In companies with more than 20 employees, organizational planning and the composition of different teams, common operating methods and the strengthening of personnel experience will become topical. Many statutory issues will also be addressed. We can assist in operational, statutory and strategic HR matters. In a 50-person company, you can still remember everyone’s names and the organizational culture just stays in control. In organizations with more than 100 people, culture must already be taken into account in a completely different way. You may not remember everyone’s names and you need to think about team division properly and make sure all employees get enough support from the team. It is good to keep growth under control so that the organizational culture remains on your control. In addition, consider the HR master data system (e.g. Mepco) and the recruitment system (e.g. Teamtailor) to ensure that suitable candidates can be found with continuous input. An organization of more than 500 people is already more like a fleet, and then you have to take proper processes to help. By this point at the latest, you must be closer to the admiral than to the pirate.

But don’t you worry, Greenstep has a fantastic HR team that can support your SaaS business in every situation with a wide range of services.

We have expanded our business in Sweden, Estonia and Finland and we know what internationalization requires from the organization. For our SaaS business, on the other hand, new offices are not needed at all for internationalization, but we still need to be familiar with VAT practices and deduction rights. Many SaaS companies are so-called "Born Global", so there are no barriers to internationalization. It should also keep in mind, that not all companies are born or should think about going global.

Summary: Greenstep is ready to support your SaaS business throughout its lifecycle. We handle accounting, payroll and regulatory reporting expertly, and help with data, CFO, HR and ERP services whenever needed.

For early-stage SaaS companies, we recommend Netvisor's or Procountor's financial management system for both accounting and payroll. As the company has grown and potentially internationalized, we can provide a more comprehensive ERP solution using Netsuite. Mepco, which is versatile as an HR system, is starting to be a good option for medium-sized SaaS companies.