Module 04 on pause-versus-cancel is the piece I still open. We had been reporting “98% retained” while a fifth of the base sat in a courtesy freeze.
— Tomasz K., finance business partner, Leeds
Flagship course
Net Revenue Retention Studio
Rebuild NRR from source invoices, keep expansion and mix in separate columns, and write definitions a UK finance lead can defend. This is the long form of our Subscription Revenue Analytics practice.
Next Fathom cohort: September seating, Tuesday evenings UK time. Notes-only access is available year-round.
What you will be able to do
- Reconstruct a starting MRR bridge that matches billed invoices rather than CRM “committed” fields.
- Split contraction into downgrade, pause, failed collection, and true cancel.
- Tag expansion so seat growth, usage overage, and list-price changes never share one unexplained bar.
- Produce a two-page appendix a board can read without a glossary hunt.
Modules
- 01Source of truth. Billing export vs CRM vs recognised revenue. You pick one ledger and document the joins.
- 02Weekly cohorts. Acquisition week as the grain. Monthly roll-ups only after the week is stable.
- 03Logo vs revenue retention. Why a rising logo chart can still shrink cash.
- 04Contraction map. Pause policies, dunning, and support-granted credits.
- 05Expansion hygiene. Attach, usage, and plan migration without double counting.
- 06NRR assembly. Beginning base, ending base, and the exclusions that must be named.
- 07Board language. Two pages, one chart that is allowed to look boring.
- 08Audit hour. A reviewer from another team attempts to break your definitions.
Instructor
Helen Adebayo
Helen spent nine years in FP&A for subscription publishers in London and Leeds before teaching full time. She still reviews two external board packs a quarter so the studio examples stay current. She does not teach forecasting models that assume constant NRR.
Informational fees
These figures describe typical seating. There is no checkout on this site. Enrolment is arranged by email.
- Mooring notes: £420 — recordings and workbooks, no live review.
- Fathom cohort: £1,180 — eight live sessions, homework critique, one office hour.
- Dry-dock team: £4,600 — up to eight colleagues, private Slack for six weeks after the last class.
Reviews of this course
★★★★☆
Clear on NRR. The SQL homework assumes more warehouse access than a five-person company has. Helen’s office hour patched that, but the default files are heavy.
via course platform · seat 2025-02
Short note: the board appendix template saved us from another twelve-slide appendix. We still argue about currency conversion, which the course flags and does not pretend to settle for every group.
Nia · Cardiff
Questions
Do I need a data warehouse?
No. CSV exports from Stripe, GoCardless, or Xero are enough for the exercises. Warehouse joins are optional extras, not a gate.
Is this a forecasting course?
No. We stop at measurement and narrative. If you came for a predictive model, this studio will feel incomplete on purpose.
What is a real limitation of the Fathom cohort?
Live seats are capped at 18. Homework is reviewed in batches, not line-by-line for every formula. If you need a private rebuild of a messy multi-entity ledger, book Dry-dock or a clinic instead of expecting that depth in the open cohort.
Can a non-finance product manager join?
Yes, provided you can obtain a billing export. We will not invent numbers for you.