NovaCRM — Q1 2026 Board Deck
Quarterly Business Review | January - March 2026
Prepared for the Board of Directors Last updated: April 4, 2026
Executive Summary
NovaCRM closed Q1 2026 as our strongest quarter to date. We crossed the $175K MRR milestone in March, representing 11x growth from our $15.8K MRR at launch in October 2024. Net revenue retention hit 118%, driven by upsells of our new Pipeline Intelligence module.
Key highlights:
- MRR: $178.4K (up 22% QoQ from $146.2K)
- Customers: 312 paying accounts (up from 247)
- Net Revenue Retention: 118%
- Gross Margin: 81%
- Burn Rate: $194K/month
- Runway: 18.3 months at current burn
We raised our Series A target from $8M to $12M based on inbound interest from three Tier-1 firms. Conversations are active and we expect to close by end of Q2.
MRR Growth
Monthly Recurring Revenue has grown from $15.8K at launch to $178.4K, a 1,029% increase over 18 months. Growth has been consistent, averaging 14.2% month-over-month through 2025 before moderating to a healthier 7-8% as we scale.
Growth drivers in Q1:
| Driver | New MRR | % of New |
|---|---|---|
| New logos | $18.4K | 57% |
| Expansion (upsell) | $11.2K | 35% |
| Reactivation | $2.6K | 8% |
| Total new MRR | $32.2K | 100% |
Customer Acquisition
We added 65 net-new customers in Q1, bringing total paying accounts to 312. Our blended CAC dropped to $1,840 from $2,310 in Q4 2025 thanks to improved SEO performance and a new referral program.
| Metric | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| New customers | 52 | 65 | +25% |
| Blended CAC | $2,310 | $1,840 | -20% |
| Payback period | 8.2 mo | 6.4 mo | -22% |
| LTV:CAC ratio | 4.8x | 6.1x | +27% |
| Organic % of pipeline | 34% | 47% | +13pp |
Channel breakdown (Q1 new logos):
- Direct sales: 28 (43%)
- Inbound / content: 19 (29%)
- Partner referrals: 12 (18%)
- Outbound SDR: 6 (10%)
Churn & Retention Analysis
Gross logo churn improved to 2.1% monthly (down from 2.8% in Q4), while net revenue churn is negative at -1.2% thanks to strong expansion revenue. Our Q3 2025 cohort is our best-performing to date with 91% 6-month retention.
Top churn reasons (exit surveys, n=18):
- Switched to all-in-one agency management system (33%)
- Budget cuts / agency closure (22%)
- Insufficient integrations with carrier portals (17%)
- Outgrew our features — moved to Salesforce (11%)
- Other / no response (17%)
We are investing in carrier portal integrations (see Product roadmap) to address reason #3 directly.
Runway & Burn Rate
With $3.55M remaining from our $4.2M seed round, we have 18.3 months of runway at the current monthly net burn of $194K. Revenue growth is outpacing expense growth, and we expect to reach cash-flow breakeven by Q3 2027 on current trajectory without additional funding.
| Metric | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly revenue | $94K | $138K | $167K |
| Monthly expenses | $312K | $326K | $361K |
| Net burn | $218K | $188K | $194K |
| Cash balance (EoQ) | $4.01M | $3.74M | $3.55M |
| Runway (months) | 18.4 | 19.9 | 18.3 |
Burn increased slightly in Q1 due to two engineering hires and expanded cloud infrastructure. This is offset by revenue growth keeping runway stable.
Product Metrics
Engagement
| Metric | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAU / MAU ratio | 38% | 42% | 45% |
| Avg. sessions/user/week | 4.1 | 4.7 | 5.0 |
| Median session duration | 8.2 min | 9.1 min | – |
| Feature adoption (Pipeline Intel) | – | 34% | 50% by Q3 |
| API calls/day | 48K | 72K | – |
| NPS score | 47 | 52 | 55 |
Product Roadmap (Q2 2026)
- Carrier portal integrations — Direct quoting from top 5 P&C carriers inside NovaCRM. Addresses #3 churn reason. ETA: May 2026.
- Pipeline Intelligence v2 — AI-powered renewal predictions and cross-sell recommendations. Beta in April.
- Mobile app (iOS) — Agent-facing mobile app for field visits and on-the-go pipeline management. GA in June.
- Team analytics dashboard — Agency owners can track rep performance, pipeline velocity, and commission projections.
Revenue Projector
Use the interactive calculator below to model different growth scenarios. Adjust the sliders to see projected ARR, customer count, and months to $1M ARR.
Team & Hiring
Current headcount: 18 (up from 14 at end of Q4)
| Department | Headcount | Q2 Hires Planned |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering | 8 | +2 (mobile, integrations) |
| Sales | 4 | +1 (AE) |
| Customer Success | 3 | +1 |
| Marketing | 1 | +1 (content) |
| G&A | 2 | – |
Q2 2026 Priorities
- Close Series A at $10-12M pre-money valuation of $45-55M
- Launch carrier integrations for top 5 P&C carriers
- Hit $220K MRR by end of June (+23% QoQ)
- Reduce gross churn to below 1.8% monthly
- Ship mobile app iOS GA