SaaS leaders (rightfully) spend a lot of time focusing on the core metrics surrounding their business growth: monthly recurring revenue, churn rate, ARPA, etc. (Check out our SaaS Metrics Cheat Sheet if you’re not sure which metrics matter most.) These are definitely useful metrics. However, it’s important to not overlook the cash flow aspect of your business. MRR is not the same as cash in the bank. In order to understand your businesses’ true financial standing, you need to do some additional planning.

Ideally you have — or are planning to have — a CFO or finance director who can help track and manage cash flow. But if it’s still early days for your company, that might not be practical or realistic.

We’ve put together a guide to SaaS cash flow planning as well as a downloadable template, so you can take ownership of your financial planning.