SaaS & Indie Hacker
Glossary
Every metric, concept, and term you'll encounter building and growing a SaaS product. Plain language, real examples, no fluff.
11 terms across 4 categories
Growth
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
CAC is the total cost of acquiring one new paying customer, including all marketing and sales expenses. For indie hackers, understanding CAC is what separates sustainable growth from burning money.
LTV (Customer Lifetime Value)
LTV is the total revenue you can expect from a single customer over the entire duration of their subscription. It's the metric that tells you how much you can afford to spend acquiring each customer.
Indie Hacker Culture
Bootstrapped
A bootstrapped company is one that's funded entirely by its founders' own resources and product revenue — no venture capital, no angel investment. It's the defining characteristic of most indie hackers.
Build in Public
Build in public is the practice of sharing your startup journey openly — including revenue numbers, failures, and lessons — as you build. It's a growth strategy, a credibility signal, and a community-building approach rolled into one.
Indie Hacker
An indie hacker is an entrepreneur who builds and runs small internet businesses independently, typically without outside funding, with the goal of achieving financial independence through product revenue.
Monetization
Revenue
ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)
ARR is your annualized recurring revenue — the yearly equivalent of MRR. Used to communicate scale and compare businesses across different subscription models.
Churn Rate
Churn rate is the percentage of customers who cancel their subscription in a given period. It's the silent killer of SaaS businesses — even a low churn rate compounds into massive revenue loss over time.
Expansion MRR
Expansion MRR is the additional revenue generated from existing customers through upgrades, add-ons, or seat additions. It's the component of growth that requires no new customer acquisition.
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)
MRR is the predictable revenue a subscription business earns every month. It's the single most important metric for indie hackers building SaaS products.
NRR (Net Revenue Retention)
NRR measures how much revenue you retain and grow from your existing customer base over time, including expansions and contractions. A NRR above 100% means your existing customers are paying you more each month — even without acquiring new ones.
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