Table 34 Sept 2026From “What are unit economics?”

How do you audit your own unit economics?

Table 3How do you audit your own unit economics?

Diagnostic Dimension	Exemplary Maturity (2 Points)	Acceptable Baseline (1 Point)	Critical Structural Defect (0 Points)
1. Unit Definition Precision	Indivisible atomic unit clearly defined across all commercial tiers	Unit defined generally, with minor ambiguity in enterprise contracts	Unit definition shifts between quarters to manipulate metrics
2. Fully Burdened CAC	Includes all S&M salaries, commissions, benefits, tools, travel, and overhead	Includes all salaries and media, but omits tooling and travel	Only digital ad spend and commissions counted; salaries omitted
3. Cost-to-Serve Boundary	Captures all cloud hosting, APIs, CS labor, and technical support	Captures cloud and primary support; excludes onboarding labor	Only basic server hosting counted; all servicing labor buried in G&A
4. Contribution Payback Horizon	CAC payback calculated on contribution cash; $\le 12$ months	Payback on contribution cash; between 12 and 18 months	Payback calculated on top-line revenue, or exceeds 24 months
5. LTV:CAC Ratio Calibration	Finite-horizon contribution LTV:CAC sits between 3.5x and 5.5x	Ratio sits between 2.0x and 3.5x; requires optimization	Ratio is below 1.5x (insolvent) or calculated using infinite horizons
6. Disaggregated Cohort Auditing	Unit economics calculated separately across enterprise, mid-market, SMB	Segmented by customer size, but using shared cost allocations	Blended company-wide average masking unprofitable segments
7. Time Horizon LTV Caps	LTV calculations strictly capped at maximum 36 to 60 months	LTV capped at 7 years; applies moderate discount rate	Uncapped infinite-horizon LTV assuming 15+ year customer lifespans
8. Channel-Isolated CAC	Paid outbound, inbound, and partner channels audited independently	Outbound and inbound separated, but tooling costs shared	Blended CAC combining organic signups with expensive field sales
9. Capital Working Cash Flow	Multi-year upfront cash terms ensure positive working capital	Annual upfront invoicing with occasional quarterly terms	Monthly billing in arrears with 18+ month payback creating cash crunches
10. Sales Comp Alignment	Sales commissions linked to contract margin and cash collection	Commissions tiered by contract size, independent of CTS	Sales reps paid full commission on low-margin or churn-prone accounts

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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). How do you audit your own unit economics? [Table]. isoglu.com. https://isoglu.com/insights/exhibits/isoglu-2026-what-are-unit-economics-fig04/

BibTeX

@misc{isoglu-2026-what-are-unit-economics-fig04,
  author = {Isoglu, Sinan},
  title = {{How do you audit your own unit economics?}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Table 3, isoglu.com},
  url = {https://isoglu.com/insights/exhibits/isoglu-2026-what-are-unit-economics-fig04/},
  note = {From the essay {What are unit economics?}}
}

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