A question I get from entrepreneurs from time to time is to look at past board decks from other startups. Board decks are a normal part of venture-backed startups and help align the executive team, the entrepreneur, and the investors on a quarterly basis.

Now, decks don’t have a defined standard, so they are a little bit all over the place. But the best ones capture what’s going well, what’s not going well, the strategy, plans, and, of course, metrics.

On the metrics front, one thing I’ve seen more frequently — but never saw over the first 10 or 15 years — is KPI definitions. Board decks include a variety of performance indicators and metrics, but just because it says “recurring revenue” or “gross renewal rate” doesn’t mean it’s measured the same way everyone else measures it.

The trend now is to include KPI definitions at the end of the deck that outline each KPI, the unit of measurement, and how it’s calculated. Here’s a list of common board metrics:

Corporate

• ARR
• Net new ACV
• Net dollar retention
• Gross dollar retention
• Operating margin (Op margin)
• Burn rate
• Days to zero cash

Marketing

• Signups
• Marketing qualified leads
• Sales qualified leads

Sales

• Sales new ACV
• Sales efficiency

Customer Success

• Managed portfolio efficiency
• MP NDR (Net dollar retention)
• MP GDR (Gross dollar retention)
• CSM carry (ARR per CSM employee)

Customer Support

• Cost per case
• Cost per MAU
• Case close via automation
• Support CSAT

R&D

• Plan / Do
• Say / Do
• Cycle times
• Availability

Finance

• Expense actual to forecast
• Days to close books
• Net New ACV actual to forecast
• Revenue actual to forecast

People

• Voluntary attrition 
• New hire attrition
• New hire starts
• Exits

Entrepreneurs would do well to include KPI definition slides at the end of their board decks to ensure that everyone is on the same page and the metrics are calculated in a way that is readily understood and, ideally, aligned with industry standards.