What Is LTV (Customer Lifetime Value)?
Lifetime Value (LTV) estimates the total revenue a business can expect from a single customer account. A common formula is Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA) divided by churn rate. A healthy SaaS business targets an LTV:CAC ratio of at least 3:1.
Why it matters: this metric helps founders separate random variation from real business movement. Decisions improve when the metric is tracked in trend form, not one-off snapshots.
How to use it in practice: pair this metric with at least one upstream and one downstream signal. That way, you can explain why it changed and what action should come next.
In Assist Founder, this term appears in context with related indicators so you can move from definition to decision without switching tools.