Table 24 Sept 2026From “What are unit economics?”

Three-Year Financial and Unit Economic Trajectory

Table 2Three-Year Financial and Unit Economic Trajectory

Performance Metric	Year 0 (Broken Baseline)	Year 1 (Stabilization)	Year 2 (Efficiency)	Year 3 (Scaled Excellence)
Total Enterprise Customers	400	440	520	680
Average Contract Value (ACV)	\$30,000	\$34,000	\$38,000	\$42,000
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)	\$12,000,000	\$14,960,000	\$19,760,000	\$28,560,000
Monthly ARPU per Customer	\$2,500	\$2,833	\$3,167	\$3,500
Direct Monthly Cost to Serve (CTS)	\$1,350	\$950	\$680	\$550
Unit Contribution Margin %	46.0%	66.5%	78.5%	84.3%
Monthly Contribution Cash per Account	\$1,150	\$1,883	\$2,487	\$2,950
Fully Loaded CAC per Customer	\$38,000	\$32,000	\$27,500	\$24,500
Contribution CAC Payback Horizon	33.0 months	17.0 months	11.1 months	8.3 months
Annual Customer Retention Rate ($r$)	78.0%	85.0%	90.0%	92.5%
Implied Average Customer Lifespan	3.2 years	4.8 years	7.2 years	10.5 years
5-Year Discounted Contribution LTV	\$34,800	\$68,500	\$108,200	\$139,800
LTV:CAC Ratio (Contribution Basis)	0.57x (Insolvent)	2.14x	3.93x	5.71x (World-Class)
Operating Cash Flow (Burn / Profit)	-\$7,500,000	-\$1,800,000	+\$2,400,000	+\$8,200,000
Implied ARR Valuation Multiple	4.0x	6.0x	8.0x	10.5x
Enterprise Valuation	\$48,000,000	\$89,760,000	\$158,080,000	\$299,880,000

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Source: Table from this essay. Sources and interpretation are given in the article.

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From the essay

Growth that compounds

What are unit economics?

Unit economics evaluate direct revenue and variable costs per fundamental business unit. Define the unit, contribution margin, CAC and payback horizon.

4 Sept 2026

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APA 7

Isoglu, S. (2026). Three-Year Financial and Unit Economic Trajectory [Table]. isoglu.com. https://isoglu.com/insights/exhibits/isoglu-2026-what-are-unit-economics-fig03/

BibTeX

@misc{isoglu-2026-what-are-unit-economics-fig03,
  author = {Isoglu, Sinan},
  title = {{Three-Year Financial and Unit Economic Trajectory}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Table 2, isoglu.com},
  url = {https://isoglu.com/insights/exhibits/isoglu-2026-what-are-unit-economics-fig03/},
  note = {From the essay {What are unit economics?}}
}

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  <figcaption>Table 2: Three-Year Financial and Unit Economic Trajectory. Source: Table from this essay. Sources and interpretation are given in the article. <a href="https://isoglu.com/insights/exhibits/isoglu-2026-what-are-unit-economics-fig03/">View exhibit</a>.</figcaption>
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