Economico for SaaS startups

Know what your SaaS numbers mean

MRR, recognized revenue and cash are different numbers. Keep the contracts and activity behind them in real books, and ask your own agent to show the difference.

One subscription can produce several answers

An annual contract may be signed today, billed now, paid next month and earned over the year. If those dates sit in different tools, a founder can end up with several plausible revenue figures. Economico records the declared contract, billing, recognition and payment activity together so you can inspect which number a report uses.

Deferred revenue $0
Recognized $12,000
  1. Apr $1,000
  2. May $1,000
  3. Jun $1,000
  4. Jul $1,000
  5. Aug $1,000
  6. Sep $1,000
  7. Oct $1,000
  8. Nov $1,000
  9. Dec $1,000
  10. Jan $1,000
  11. Feb $1,000
  12. Mar $1,000
A $12,000 annual prepay parks as deferred revenue and recognizes $1,000 a month — automatically.

Ask before the investor asks

Your agent can read SaaS metrics, financial statements, balances and default-alive reports from the recorded ledger. Check MRR and ARR alongside burn, runway, revenue and what customers owe you. Inspect the entries and assumptions before sharing a number; Economico does not automatically import Stripe or bank data.

Check this month's numbers
Show MRR, recognized revenue, burn and runway for August. Which contracts, payments and costs are included?

Let billing terms stay visible

Contract activities can express subscriptions, usage tiers, minimums and prepaid capacity. Your agent records the observed activity under those terms and can show the resulting amount due and recognition. The terms and measurements must be supplied and reviewed; the ledger does not guess what a customer used or what a vendor charged.

A SaaS startup's first quarter · in journal entries

MRR from the books, from customer one.

Scroll through TinyCRM Studio's first quarter — self-serve plans, an onboarding fee, real infrastructure costs. Subscriptions land in real books, so MRR is read, not rebuilt.

01

Incorporate and raise

Nora and Basil put in $20,000 and close a $100,000 pre-seed SAFE. Cash, yes — revenue, no.

We incorporated TinyCRM and closed the $100,000 pre-seed SAFE — set up the books.
5 tool calls
  • Economicocontracts.create✓
    {
      "ledgerBindings": {
        "money": "led_00000000000000000000000840"
      },
      "parties": {
        "founder-a": "nora-chen",
        "founder-b": "basil-mensah"
      },
      "templateDocumentId": "doc_01KBBKB100PW948B1STEVDN15T",
      "terms": {
        "authorize": {
          "shares": "12000000"
        },
        "buy-founder-a": {
          "par": "50000",
          "premium": "950000",
          "shares": "5000000"
        },
        "buy-founder-b": {
          "par": "50000",
          "premium": "950000",
          "shares": "5000000"
        }
      }
    }
  • Economicocontracts.record✓
    {
      "activityKey": "buy-founder-a",
      "contractId": "ctr_01KBBKB100K6TYHZF5RWP45CWM",
      "effectiveAt": "2025-12-01T00:00:00Z",
      "facts": {
        "bank": "mercury-checking"
      },
      "occurrenceKey": "buy-founder-a",
      "sourceFactId": "founder-stock:nora-chen"
    }
  • Economicocontracts.record✓
    {
      "activityKey": "buy-founder-b",
      "contractId": "ctr_01KBBKB100K6TYHZF5RWP45CWM",
      "effectiveAt": "2025-12-01T00:00:00Z",
      "facts": {
        "bank": "mercury-checking"
      },
      "occurrenceKey": "buy-founder-b",
      "sourceFactId": "founder-stock:basil-mensah"
    }
  • Economicocontracts.create✓
    {
      "ledgerBindings": {
        "money": "led_00000000000000000000000840"
      },
      "parties": {
        "investor": "pre-seed-angels"
      },
      "templateDocumentId": "doc_01KBBKB100609M1Q3ZBFC8F88V",
      "terms": {
        "fund": {
          "amount": "10000000"
        }
      }
    }
  • Economicocontracts.record✓
    {
      "activityKey": "fund",
      "contractId": "ctr_01KBBKB100ZN675ESE2TMA5TN6",
      "effectiveAt": "2025-12-15T00:00:00Z",
      "facts": {
        "bank": "mercury-checking"
      },
      "occurrenceKey": "fund",
      "sourceFactId": "mercury:wire:pre-seed-angels-safe"
    }
Founder stock and the SAFE recorded — $120,000 in the bank, none of it revenue.
02

The first self-serve customer

Juniper Bio signs up for the $499 Growth plan and pays within the week. MRR exists — as a line in the books.

Juniper Bio signed up for the Growth plan — bill their first month.
5 tool calls
  • Economicoparties.create✓
    {
      "categories": [
        "customer"
      ],
      "name": "Juniper Bio",
      "partyId": "juniper-bio"
    }
  • Economicocontracts.create✓
    {
      "ledgerBindings": {
        "money": "led_00000000000000000000000840"
      },
      "parties": {
        "customer": "juniper-bio"
      },
      "templateDocumentId": "doc_01KBBKB100DX4NTC7QDJZ4JP3A",
      "terms": {
        "subscription": {
          "monthly": "49900"
        }
      }
    }
  • Economicocontracts.record✓
    {
      "activityKey": "accept",
      "contractId": "ctr_01KBBKB1004596YS5RQH74AWY1",
      "effectiveAt": "2026-01-02T00:00:00Z",
      "evidence": {
        "acceptance": [
          {
            "kind": "stripe_object",
            "ref": "sub_1QJuniperGrowth"
          }
        ]
      },
      "facts": {},
      "occurrenceKey": "accept",
      "sourceFactId": "juniper-bio:signup"
    }
  • Economicocontracts.record✓
    {
      "activityKey": "invoice",
      "contractId": "ctr_01KBBKB1004596YS5RQH74AWY1",
      "effectiveAt": "2026-01-02T00:00:00Z",
      "facts": {
        "due_days": "14"
      },
      "occurrenceKey": "2026-01",
      "sourceFactId": "TCS-INV-001"
    }
  • Economicocontracts.record✓
    {
      "activityKey": "pay",
      "contractId": "ctr_01KBBKB1004596YS5RQH74AWY1",
      "effectiveAt": "2026-01-06T00:00:00Z",
      "evidence": {
        "payment": [
          {
            "kind": "other",
            "ref": "mercury:ach:juniper-2026-01-06"
          }
        ]
      },
      "facts": {
        "bank": "mercury-checking",
        "invoice": "TCS-INV-001"
      },
      "occurrenceKey": "TCS-INV-001",
      "sourceFactId": "mercury:ach:juniper-2026-01-06"
    }
$499 invoiced and collected. MRR: $499 — a number from your books, not a spreadsheet.
03

A founder covers the first hosting receipt

Nora pays a $40 Vercel receipt personally. TinyCRM has the expense, but the company's bank balance does not move.

Nora paid our $40 Vercel Pro hosting receipt personally — record it without reducing company cash.
4 tool calls
  • Economicoparties.create✓
    {
      "categories": [
        "founder"
      ],
      "name": "Nora Chen",
      "partyId": "nora-chen"
    }
  • Economicoparties.create✓
    {
      "categories": [
        "vendor"
      ],
      "name": "Vercel",
      "partyId": "vercel",
      "url": "https://vercel.com"
    }
  • Economicocontracts.create✓
    {
      "ledgerBindings": {
        "money": "led_00000000000000000000000840"
      },
      "parties": {
        "vendor": "vercel"
      },
      "templateDocumentId": "doc_01KBBKB100Z6Q6WNP83Y9DJ2M8"
    }
  • Economicocontracts.record✓
    {
      "activityKey": "bill",
      "contractId": "ctr_01KBBKB100HT0KZ7N35DW2AQ1N",
      "effectiveAt": "2026-01-07T00:00:00Z",
      "facts": {
        "amount": "4000",
        "paid_by": "nora-chen"
      },
      "occurrenceKey": "2026-01",
      "sourceFactId": "vercel:receipt:pro-2026-01"
    }
$40 of hosting recorded and $40 due to Nora. Company cash stays at $120,499.
04

An onboarding fee — kept out of MRR

Maple Works buys guided onboarding for $1,500. One-time revenue, on its own line, so recurring stays honest.

Maple Works bought guided onboarding — invoice the $1,500.
1 tool call
  • Economicocontracts.record✓
    {
      "activityKey": "onboarding",
      "contractId": "ctr_01KBBKB100X8AFX30KRZNX698D",
      "effectiveAt": "2026-01-12T00:00:00Z",
      "facts": {
        "amount": "150000"
      },
      "occurrenceKey": "onboarding",
      "sourceFactId": "TCS-INV-002"
    }
One-time onboarding invoiced — kept out of recurring revenue, so MRR stays honest.
05

The infrastructure bills arrive

Render and Postmark bill the company, paid from checking; the receipts are already in the inbox.

Find and handle any bills.
4 tool calls
  • Gmailsearch_gmail_messages✓
    {
      "q": "(receipt OR invoice) from:(render.com OR postmarkapp.com) after:2026/01/01"
    }
  • Gmailread_gmail_message✓
    {
      "messageId": "9aad00e333de6ad4"
    }
  • Economicocontracts.record✓
    {
      "activityKey": "bill",
      "contractId": "ctr_01KBBKB100F7ZPN4E8DF1BN1SC",
      "effectiveAt": "2026-01-31T00:00:00Z",
      "facts": {
        "amount": "68000",
        "bank": "mercury-checking"
      },
      "occurrenceKey": "2026-01",
      "sourceFactId": "render:receipt:2026-01"
    }
  • Economicocontracts.record✓
    {
      "activityKey": "bill",
      "contractId": "ctr_01KBBKB100J72E7APGB699VBQ8",
      "effectiveAt": "2026-01-31T00:00:00Z",
      "facts": {
        "amount": "9500",
        "bank": "mercury-checking"
      },
      "occurrenceKey": "2026-01",
      "sourceFactId": "postmark:receipt:2026-01"
    }
Render $680 and Postmark $95, recorded and paid from checking — hosting costs on the books, so company gross margin stays visible.
06

February: MRR up, still pre-profit

A second plan signs — and a $2,200 terms-of-service review lands. Early SaaS in one line.

Close February — how do we look?
2 tool calls
  • Economicoreports.run✓
    {
      "kind": "saas_metrics",
      "month": 2,
      "year": 2026
    }
  • Economicoreports.run✓
    {
      "from": "2026-01-01",
      "kind": "income_statement",
      "until": "2026-03-01"
    }
Two plans of MRR now, but the $2,200 legal review pushed cumulative net income to ($1,088). MRR up, still pre-profit — and the books say so plainly.
07

The quarter closes, honestly

Three plans of MRR, a quarter that's still net red — with cash and operating history ready for a defensible runway view.

Close the quarter and read me MRR by plan.
2 tool calls
  • Economicoreports.run✓
    {
      "kind": "saas_metrics",
      "quarter": 1,
      "year": 2026
    }
  • Economicoreports.run✓
    {
      "as_of": "2026-04-01",
      "kind": "balance_sheet"
    }
MRR $897 across Growth, Team, and Starter; the quarter nets ($1,161). Honest books while you find fit — with $118,710 cash on the same page.

Ask it what you used to export and paste

Start a subscription
Set up Juniper Bio on the $499/month Growth plan starting today.
Know your MRR
What's our MRR this month and last, and which contracts make it up?
Recognize an annual deal
Moss Health paid $12,000 for an annual plan upfront — recognize it monthly over the term.

What you'll use

The money loop, tuned for SaaS startups.

Get started

Books your agent runs. Numbers you can explain.

Hand your agent the setup guide, approve its connection, and start with one real transaction. Inspect the books as you go.