# Signpost Financial Model

Automated CRM and marketing platform for local businesses - captures customer data and drives reviews, repeat business, and referrals with zero merchant effort.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/signpost
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/signpost.xlsx
- Category: Fintech
- Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation
- Funding round: Series D
- Funding: $52M
- Founded: 2019
- Geography: United States (NYC, Austin, Denver offices; US-only lead database).
- Customer: B2B

## About the company

Signpost is an automated CRM and marketing platform for local businesses, capturing customer data and driving reviews, repeat business, and referrals with minimal merchant effort. It gives small businesses a practical way to manage customer relationships without a large marketing team.

The company sells three annual subscription tiers, ranging from $1,999 to $3,999, through an inside-sales motion to SMBs and franchise groups. Payments can be an optional feature, but the documented commercial base is recurring software revenue.

The model should forecast merchant logos, tier mix, annual contract value, sales-rep productivity, implementation, churn, and expansion. If payment processing is introduced, it should be a separate volume-and-take-rate module, preserving a clear view of subscription ARR and sales efficiency.

## What's included

- 5-year monthly revenue build with stage-appropriate growth assumptions
- Full P&L, headcount plan, and operating-expense schedule
- Cash-flow statement, runway, and burn-rate tracking
- Valuation via exit multiple with a DCF cross-check
- Returns analysis with MOIC and IRR
- Unit economics including CAC, LTV, payback, and cohort retention

## Product & value proposition

- "Mia" AI assistant auto-captures customer contact data from every call, email, and purchase.
- Automates one-to-one email and SMS campaigns for: feedback, review solicitation, new customer offers, repeat purchase nudges, and referral requests.
- Fully managed - 5-minute onboarding, zero ongoing merchant effort required.
- Proprietary data moat: 68M Americans / 27% of US adults in database; cross-location learning; ISO 27001 / SOC 2 certified.
- Outcome claims (as of Oct 2018): average user lifts online ratings from 3.4 → 4.6 stars (+34%) and overall revenue +14%.

## Market

- Lead database: 13,000,000 US local businesses qualified.
- Current SMB channel penetration: <0.01% of leads; Franchise channel: 0.2% of leads.
- No TAM/SAM/SOM dollar figures presented in deck.
- Market narrative: shift from website-driven to social discovery (Google My Business, Yelp, Facebook); from DIY tools to hands-free automation; from one-to-many newsletters to personal SMS/email engagement; from funnel ads to closed-loop commerce.

## Revenue model

- Annual subscription, three tiers:
  - Basic: $1,999/yr ($199/month) - email capture, payments (optional), reviews, feedback.
  - Standard: $2,999/yr ($299/month) - adds phone capture, SMS, new customers, repeat business, referrals.
  - Pro: $3,999/yr ($399/month) - adds dedicated service and onboarding support.
- Payments integrated as optional add-on at Basic tier; payment processing revenue not quantified in deck.
- "Powered by Signpost" tag in product drives inbound merchant leads; no paid marketing.
- Sales channels: SMB (60 reps, <7-day cycle) and Franchise (11 reps, <7-day cycle).
- ARPU direction: explicitly described as increasing ("Strong demand drives an increasing ARPU").

## Traction & metrics

- Customer mix by MRR as of 9/30/2018:
  - SMB: 71% of MRR
  - Franchise: 25% of MRR
  - Partners: 3% of MRR
  - Enterprise: 1% of MRR
- Customer mix by vertical (% of MRR, 9/30/2018):
  - Home Services: 44%
  - Professional Services: 14%
  - Fitness: 7%
  - Recreation: 4%
  - Education: 3%
  - Other: 27%
- Lead database: 13M+ US leads; 300K augmented/month; 1MM leads enriched in 2018.

## Unit economics

- LTV/CAC ratio used internally for lead distribution prioritization - specific values not disclosed.
- ARPU: implied ~$199–$399/month depending on tier; blended ARPU not stated.

## Competition / moat

- Moat articulated as three pillars:
  1. Proprietary customer data (68M Americans; unlike traditional CRMs, Signpost owns the data collected for users).
  2. Cross-location insight (behavior observed across all merchant locations, benefits all).
  3. Ability to experiment at scale (authority to automate marketing enables A/B testing across user base).
- Competitive positioning: positioned against DIY tools and legacy CRMs; no named competitors shown.
- No traditional competitive matrix in deck.

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

- Team:
  - Stuart Wall - CEO / Founder (Bain & Company, Harvard Business School)
  - Radhika Samant - COO (joined 2017; formerly Namely, EDB Postgres)
  - Christopher DePatria - CRO (joined 2012; formerly Yodle, AOL)
  - Wade Foreman - VP Product Development (joined 2013)
  - Kristin Haran - VP Strategic Projects (joined 2013)

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## Recommended financial model

- **Archetype + why:** SaaS ARR / subscription model. Revenue is purely recurring subscription (3 tiers, monthly billing), sold via an inside-sales motion to SMBs and franchise groups. This maps cleanly onto a cohort-based SaaS P&L with MRR/ARR build, churn waterfall, and sales capacity model.

- **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 3 years monthly (Year 1–2 monthly detail for rep hiring/ramping and MRR cohorts; Year 3 can roll to quarterly). A 13-week cash model as a companion is warranted if raising.

- **Key drivers & assumptions:**

| Driver | Value / Source |
| -- | -- |
| Starting ARR | estimate from MRR mix; exact figure not in deck - model as an input variable |
| Blended ARPU (monthly) | ~$260/month, weighted toward Standard tier (~$299) given 71% SMB mix; Basic at $199, Pro at $399 |
| Tier mix: Basic / Standard / Pro | 50% / 35% / 15% to start, shifting toward Standard/Pro over time as ARPU rises |
| New logo adds per month - SMB | 60 reps; ~3–5 new logos/rep/month at <7-day cycle; ramp period 60–90 days |
| New logo adds per month - Franchise | 11 reps; ~2–3 new logos/rep/month (larger deal, multi-location accounts) |
| Monthly gross churn rate | 1.5–2.5%/month (typical SMB SaaS: higher than enterprise; no deck data) |
| Net revenue retention | ~95–105% (ARPU expansion via tier upgrades partially offsets SMB churn) |
| Gross margin | 65–75% (SaaS at this stage with inside-sales; no deck data) |
| Sales rep fully-loaded cost | ~$80–100K OTE + benefits/year |
| Rep ramp period | 90 days to full quota |
| S&M as % of revenue | 40–55% (high-touch SMB inside-sales motion) |
| R&D as % of revenue | 20–25% |
| G&A as % of revenue | 10–15% |
| Lead penetration - SMB runway | <0.01% of 13M leads = massive headroom; models as no near-term cap |
| Lead penetration - Franchise runway | 0.2% of leads penetrated; franchise segment modelled separately |
| Payment processing revenue | minimal / excluded from base model; add as upside scenario if take-rate disclosed |

- **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):**
  - **Base:** current rep count, 2% monthly churn, blended ARPU ~$260, modest tier upsell.
  - **Bull:** rep headcount grows 30%/yr, churn falls to 1.2% (better product-market fit), ARPU expands toward $320 via Pro tier pull-through, franchise acceleration.
  - **Bear:** SMB churn at 3%/month (macro stress / competition), rep productivity declines, ARPU flat, no franchise upside.

- **Required sheets / outputs:**
  1. **Assumptions** - all drivers in one place with scenario toggle (Base/Bull/Bear).
  2. **MRR Build** - new logos by channel (SMB / Franchise / Partner / Enterprise), gross churn waterfall, expansion/contraction, ending ARR.
  3. **Sales Capacity** - rep headcount by channel, ramp schedule, quota per rep, attainment.
  4. **P&L** - revenue, COGS, gross profit, S&M, R&D, G&A, EBITDA, net income (monthly → annual summary).
  5. **Headcount** - hiring plan tied to sales capacity + engineering/G&A growth.
  6. **Cash & Runway** - collections (annual subscription billed monthly vs. upfront?), burn, cash balance.
  7. **Unit Economics** - LTV (ARPU × gross margin / churn rate), CAC (S&M / new logos), LTV:CAC, payback months.
  8. **Dashboard** - ARR, MRR growth, logo count, ARPU, churn rate, LTV:CAC, runway.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Signpost financial model free?

Yes. The Signpost model is a free Excel download with live formulas.

### Can I change the assumptions?

Yes. The workbook is editable and its live formulas recalculate when assumptions change.