Bookings, revenue, and cash are three distinct financial measures B2B SaaS founders frequently conflate, each telling a different story about the business. Bookings is what was signed (sum of TCVs of deals closed in the period), revenue is what was earned (the portion of contracts recognized under accounting rules), and cash is what hit the bank account (actual collected money in the period). A company can have a great bookings quarter, mediocre revenue, and weak cash collections all in the same three months. Investors, accountants, and operators each emphasize a different one.
The three measures, side by side:
| Measure | What it captures | When it's recognized | Used by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bookings | TCV of all deals signed | Day the c... |