{
  "meta": {
    "id": "startup-benchmarks-2026",
    "title": "Toolminator Startup Metrics Benchmark 2026",
    "revision": "2026-06",
    "rowCount": 45,
    "disclaimer": "Curated planning bands for founders and operators—not audited market research, venture benchmarks, or investment advice. Ranges synthesize commonly cited public reports; verify with your own data.",
    "methodologyUrl": "/method/",
    "license": "CC BY 4.0 with attribution to Toolminator and link to methodology."
  },
  "generatedAt": "2026-06-17T11:52:24.333Z",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "openview",
      "label": "OpenView / SaaS benchmarks (public summaries)",
      "accessed": "2026-06"
    },
    {
      "id": "profitwell",
      "label": "ProfitWell / Paddle retention studies (public summaries)",
      "accessed": "2026-06"
    },
    {
      "id": "shopify",
      "label": "E-commerce industry reports (public summaries)",
      "accessed": "2026-06"
    }
  ],
  "industries": [
    {
      "id": "b2b_saas",
      "label": "B2B SaaS"
    },
    {
      "id": "b2c_saas",
      "label": "B2C SaaS"
    },
    {
      "id": "ecommerce",
      "label": "E-commerce (DTC)"
    },
    {
      "id": "marketplace",
      "label": "Marketplace"
    },
    {
      "id": "creator",
      "label": "Creator / digital products"
    }
  ],
  "metrics": [
    {
      "id": "cac",
      "label": "CAC",
      "description": "Customer acquisition cost (fully loaded marketing + sales per new customer)"
    },
    {
      "id": "ltv",
      "label": "LTV",
      "description": "Lifetime value per customer (gross margin basis, simplified)"
    },
    {
      "id": "ltv_cac_ratio",
      "label": "LTV:CAC",
      "description": "LTV divided by CAC — unitless ratio"
    },
    {
      "id": "roas",
      "label": "ROAS",
      "description": "Revenue per dollar of ad spend (blended)"
    },
    {
      "id": "monthly_churn",
      "label": "Monthly churn",
      "description": "Logo or revenue churn per month (%)"
    },
    {
      "id": "trial_conversion",
      "label": "Trial → paid",
      "description": "Free trial to paid conversion (%)"
    },
    {
      "id": "payback_months",
      "label": "CAC payback",
      "description": "Months to recover CAC on gross margin"
    },
    {
      "id": "burn_monthly",
      "label": "Net burn",
      "description": "Monthly cash burn for seed-stage teams (USD thousands)"
    },
    {
      "id": "runway_months",
      "label": "Runway",
      "description": "Cash runway at current burn (months)"
    }
  ],
  "rows": [
    {
      "metric": "cac",
      "industry": "b2b_saas",
      "unit": "USD",
      "p25": 900,
      "p50": 1800,
      "p75": 4200
    },
    {
      "metric": "cac",
      "industry": "b2c_saas",
      "unit": "USD",
      "p25": 25,
      "p50": 65,
      "p75": 180
    },
    {
      "metric": "cac",
      "industry": "ecommerce",
      "unit": "USD",
      "p25": 18,
      "p50": 42,
      "p75": 95
    },
    {
      "metric": "cac",
      "industry": "marketplace",
      "unit": "USD",
      "p25": 35,
      "p50": 85,
      "p75": 220
    },
    {
      "metric": "cac",
      "industry": "creator",
      "unit": "USD",
      "p25": 8,
      "p50": 22,
      "p75": 55
    },
    {
      "metric": "ltv",
      "industry": "b2b_saas",
      "unit": "USD",
      "p25": 9000,
      "p50": 18000,
      "p75": 45000
    },
    {
      "metric": "ltv",
      "industry": "b2c_saas",
      "unit": "USD",
      "p25": 120,
      "p50": 280,
      "p75": 720
    },
    {
      "metric": "ltv",
      "industry": "ecommerce",
      "unit": "USD",
      "p25": 85,
      "p50": 165,
      "p75": 340
    },
    {
      "metric": "ltv",
      "industry": "marketplace",
      "unit": "USD",
      "p25": 140,
      "p50": 320,
      "p75": 780
    },
    {
      "metric": "ltv",
      "industry": "creator",
      "unit": "USD",
      "p25": 45,
      "p50": 110,
      "p75": 290
    },
    {
      "metric": "ltv_cac_ratio",
      "industry": "b2b_saas",
      "unit": "ratio",
      "p25": 2.5,
      "p50": 3.5,
      "p75": 5.5
    },
    {
      "metric": "ltv_cac_ratio",
      "industry": "b2c_saas",
      "unit": "ratio",
      "p25": 2,
      "p50": 3,
      "p75": 4.5
    },
    {
      "metric": "ltv_cac_ratio",
      "industry": "ecommerce",
      "unit": "ratio",
      "p25": 2.2,
      "p50": 3.2,
      "p75": 4.8
    },
    {
      "metric": "ltv_cac_ratio",
      "industry": "marketplace",
      "unit": "ratio",
      "p25": 2.8,
      "p50": 4,
      "p75": 6
    },
    {
      "metric": "ltv_cac_ratio",
      "industry": "creator",
      "unit": "ratio",
      "p25": 2,
      "p50": 3.5,
      "p75": 6
    },
    {
      "metric": "roas",
      "industry": "b2b_saas",
      "unit": "ratio",
      "p25": 1.8,
      "p50": 2.8,
      "p75": 4.2
    },
    {
      "metric": "roas",
      "industry": "b2c_saas",
      "unit": "ratio",
      "p25": 1.5,
      "p50": 2.4,
      "p75": 3.8
    },
    {
      "metric": "roas",
      "industry": "ecommerce",
      "unit": "ratio",
      "p25": 2,
      "p50": 3.5,
      "p75": 5.5
    },
    {
      "metric": "roas",
      "industry": "marketplace",
      "unit": "ratio",
      "p25": 2.2,
      "p50": 3.6,
      "p75": 5
    },
    {
      "metric": "roas",
      "industry": "creator",
      "unit": "ratio",
      "p25": 1.6,
      "p50": 2.8,
      "p75": 4.5
    },
    {
      "metric": "monthly_churn",
      "industry": "b2b_saas",
      "unit": "percent",
      "p25": 2,
      "p50": 3.5,
      "p75": 6
    },
    {
      "metric": "monthly_churn",
      "industry": "b2c_saas",
      "unit": "percent",
      "p25": 4,
      "p50": 6.5,
      "p75": 10
    },
    {
      "metric": "monthly_churn",
      "industry": "ecommerce",
      "unit": "percent",
      "p25": 5,
      "p50": 8,
      "p75": 12,
      "notes": "Repeat purchase rate proxy"
    },
    {
      "metric": "monthly_churn",
      "industry": "marketplace",
      "unit": "percent",
      "p25": 6,
      "p50": 9,
      "p75": 14
    },
    {
      "metric": "monthly_churn",
      "industry": "creator",
      "unit": "percent",
      "p25": 7,
      "p50": 11,
      "p75": 16
    },
    {
      "metric": "trial_conversion",
      "industry": "b2b_saas",
      "unit": "percent",
      "p25": 12,
      "p50": 22,
      "p75": 35
    },
    {
      "metric": "trial_conversion",
      "industry": "b2c_saas",
      "unit": "percent",
      "p25": 8,
      "p50": 15,
      "p75": 28
    },
    {
      "metric": "trial_conversion",
      "industry": "ecommerce",
      "unit": "percent",
      "p25": 1.5,
      "p50": 2.8,
      "p75": 4.5,
      "notes": "Site visitor to purchase"
    },
    {
      "metric": "trial_conversion",
      "industry": "marketplace",
      "unit": "percent",
      "p25": 3,
      "p50": 5.5,
      "p75": 9
    },
    {
      "metric": "trial_conversion",
      "industry": "creator",
      "unit": "percent",
      "p25": 2,
      "p50": 4.5,
      "p75": 8
    },
    {
      "metric": "payback_months",
      "industry": "b2b_saas",
      "unit": "months",
      "p25": 10,
      "p50": 16,
      "p75": 24
    },
    {
      "metric": "payback_months",
      "industry": "b2c_saas",
      "unit": "months",
      "p25": 4,
      "p50": 8,
      "p75": 14
    },
    {
      "metric": "payback_months",
      "industry": "ecommerce",
      "unit": "months",
      "p25": 1,
      "p50": 2,
      "p75": 4
    },
    {
      "metric": "payback_months",
      "industry": "marketplace",
      "unit": "months",
      "p25": 3,
      "p50": 6,
      "p75": 12
    },
    {
      "metric": "payback_months",
      "industry": "creator",
      "unit": "months",
      "p25": 2,
      "p50": 4,
      "p75": 8
    },
    {
      "metric": "burn_monthly",
      "industry": "b2b_saas",
      "unit": "USD thousands",
      "p25": 40,
      "p50": 85,
      "p75": 180,
      "notes": "Seed / Series A planning bands"
    },
    {
      "metric": "burn_monthly",
      "industry": "b2c_saas",
      "unit": "USD thousands",
      "p25": 30,
      "p50": 70,
      "p75": 150
    },
    {
      "metric": "burn_monthly",
      "industry": "ecommerce",
      "unit": "USD thousands",
      "p25": 25,
      "p50": 55,
      "p75": 120
    },
    {
      "metric": "burn_monthly",
      "industry": "marketplace",
      "unit": "USD thousands",
      "p25": 50,
      "p50": 110,
      "p75": 220
    },
    {
      "metric": "burn_monthly",
      "industry": "creator",
      "unit": "USD thousands",
      "p25": 5,
      "p50": 15,
      "p75": 40
    },
    {
      "metric": "runway_months",
      "industry": "b2b_saas",
      "unit": "months",
      "p25": 12,
      "p50": 18,
      "p75": 30
    },
    {
      "metric": "runway_months",
      "industry": "b2c_saas",
      "unit": "months",
      "p25": 10,
      "p50": 16,
      "p75": 24
    },
    {
      "metric": "runway_months",
      "industry": "ecommerce",
      "unit": "months",
      "p25": 8,
      "p50": 14,
      "p75": 22
    },
    {
      "metric": "runway_months",
      "industry": "marketplace",
      "unit": "months",
      "p25": 12,
      "p50": 20,
      "p75": 36
    },
    {
      "metric": "runway_months",
      "industry": "creator",
      "unit": "months",
      "p25": 6,
      "p50": 12,
      "p75": 18
    }
  ]
}