Establishing Research Operations for Revenue Growth Management or Net Revenue Management (Lever wise analysis?)

To answer your question directly, the best way to figure our the optimal revenue model is by doing exactly what you're doing right now: evaluate the trends, challenges in the market and calculate how much it costs to build your user base relative to the revenue (potential) they bring in. Commonly if your CAC is out of alignment people start by focusing on the tactics through which they acquire (which to be fair is only natural.) I though like to start on the custom side and work my way backwards. Are you targeting the "right" customers relative to your opportunity in the market. Start by focusing on this question first and making sure you're targeting the right market for your app/service. Next, I would see if you can fractionalize that market further down into a more specific/narrow subset of potential customers. This should allow you to maximize what you are producing in terms of revenue potential and also cut down on the acquisition costs side since you can focus your nozzle more directly towards the target. The bottom line is dont overlook an opportunity to make sure your target market is clearly defined and confirmed/validated. And dont be afraid to question potential false-positives (i.e. just because someone will buy your service doesn't make them necessarily the ideal customer.) try to create multiple layers and variables of filtering that help you make sure you've got the right group of people in your sights.

Start experimenting by putting the 2 things in place you say you are missing: 1. create a validated learning model 2. Stop focusing on vanity metrics; replace with user growth, cohort analysis or growth metrics. Do not just read Lean principles; APPLY them. Also, What are you doing to brand your company? What are you doing to engaging people who have the problem your service solves? Does it actually solve their problem? Do you know what their problems are? What do THEY think their problems are?

100M+ in revenues in 5 years or less does not happen very often. As an example of one sector, here is an interesting data visualization (circa 2008) of the 100 largest publically traded software companies at that time that shows their actual revenue ramp-ups from SEC filings (only 4 out of these 100 successful companies managed this feat, which themselves are an extremely small percentage of all of the VC-funded software companies): How Long Does it Take to Build a Technology Empire? http://ipo-dashboards.com/wordpress/2009/08/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-a-technology-empire/ Key findings excerpted from the link above: "Only 28% of the nation’s most successful public software empires were rocketships. I’ve defined a rocket ship as a company that reached $50 million in annual sales in 6 years or less (this is the type of growth that typically appears in VC-funded business plans). A hot shot reaches $50m in 7 to 12 years. A slow burner takes 13 years or more. Interestingly, 50% of these companies took 9 or more years to reach $50m in revenue."

Definitely DON'T go for funding at this stage. It would be just TOO COSTLY for you in terms of the stake you will have to give away for a limited amount. Most likely at this stage, you don't even have a clear picture if you really need the investment. Have you mobilized all the cash you can on your own? All I mean absolutely all. You don't want to ask for money when you are saving some bucks just in case your idea doesn't work. Have you raised some from FFF (Family, Friends and Fools)?. Again, don't go to angels until you have covered your very basics with those. All in all, most probably what is best for you is to grow this a bit more, get some proper biz metrics in place (churn, growth, revenue per user ...), experiment a bit with which marketing tools will work best for you and start a fire. When you have this fire started (i.e. you know, backed by data, what works and what doesn't), then YOU MAY buy some gasoline (i.e. ask for cash). Don't do it before. Always keep this in mind that I read in some book: "A FOOL AND HIS/HER EQUITY ARE SOON DEPARTED" Pere

10% of the total monthly sales churning on an absolute basis is near fatal. That means that within 5 months, you have 50% absolute churn per year, which reveals fundamental flaws with the service itself. Anything above small single digit churn is telling you and your team that customers are not seeing enough value in your product. I'd start by doing as many exit interviews as you can with those that have churned out, including, offers to reengage at a lower price-point while you fix the issues that matter to them. Happy to talk through this in more detail in a call.