---
title: "Start Good Trouble: Mastering SaaS metrics with Equals' Bobby Pinero - The Intercom Blog"
description: "Equals co-founder and CEO Bobby Pinero joined the Start Good Trouble webinar to discuss how SaaS metrics unlock business potential and tell a compelling story. He argued that spreadsheets remain central despite the explosion of new BI tools, because everything eventually ends up back in a spreadsheet connected to live data. Drawing on seven years as Intercom’s senior director of finance, where he scaled ARR from under $1 million to over $150 million, Pinero highlighted the complexity of early-stage metrics like CAC, LTV, and retention. Equals recently published The Guide to SaaS Metrics to help leaders understand, optimize, and report on key drivers, and Pinero emphasized the need to tailor metrics to the business model and start with the story. He also recommended writing consistently and authentically to clarify ideas and connect with audiences, and noted that horizontal products require narrowing down use cases to scale effectively."
---

# Start Good Trouble: Mastering SaaS metrics with Equals' Bobby Pinero - The Intercom Blog

[Intercom](https://yomu.fyi/company/intercom) · Oct 5, 2026

**Type:** Explainer

## Summary

Equals co-founder and CEO Bobby Pinero joined the Start Good Trouble webinar to discuss how SaaS metrics unlock business potential and tell a compelling story. He argued that spreadsheets remain central despite the explosion of new BI tools, because everything eventually ends up back in a spreadsheet connected to live data. Drawing on seven years as Intercom’s senior director of finance, where he scaled ARR from under $1 million to over $150 million, Pinero highlighted the complexity of early-stage metrics like CAC, LTV, and retention. Equals recently published The Guide to SaaS Metrics to help leaders understand, optimize, and report on key drivers, and Pinero emphasized the need to tailor metrics to the business model and start with the story. He also recommended writing consistently and authentically to clarify ideas and connect with audiences, and noted that horizontal products require narrowing down use cases to scale effectively.

## Context

Start Good Trouble webinar interview with Equals CEO Bobby Pinero on mastering SaaS metrics

## Takeaways

- For horizontal products, narrowing down key use cases is essential to create a repeatable growth engine and scale effectively.
- Early-stage SaaS metrics such as customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, and retention are particularly complex and hard to pin down.
- Tailor your metrics to your specific business model and start with the story you want to tell rather than just reporting numbers.

## FAQ

### Why do spreadsheets still matter for analytics?

Spreadsheets remain the final destination for analysis because they connect directly to live company data and offer flexibility that BI tools cannot replace.

### What makes SaaS metrics hard to manage early on?

Early-stage metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), and retention are difficult to calculate accurately, and horizontal products require narrowing down use cases to scale effectively.

### How should startups pick the right metrics?

Select metrics that align with your specific business model and help you understand the bigger picture; start with the narrative you want to tell rather than just presenting data.

**Tags:** [Business Intelligence](https://yomu.fyi/topic/business-intelligence), [Metrics](https://yomu.fyi/topic/metrics), [SaaS](https://yomu.fyi/topic/saas), [Startups](https://yomu.fyi/topic/startups)

- Source: [Intercom](https://www.intercom.com/blog/videos/start-good-trouble-equals-bobby-pinero)
- Source URL: https://www.intercom.com/blog/videos/start-good-trouble-equals-bobby-pinero
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-10-05T18:00:20.410Z

[Read original post](https://www.intercom.com/blog/videos/start-good-trouble-equals-bobby-pinero)