How To Think About CAC For Business With Low S&M, Acquiring Customers Thru M&A?

Posted this in IB forum, but figured may get some more expertise here: 


How does one think about CAC (as well as go about calculating it) for a business with near $0 s&m spend? The company acquired customers by acquiring adjacent businesses. 

 

I'll take a stab. I would think  AcquiredCo's standalone CAC would be the way to go.

Philosophically, purchase price / customer makes sense as that is what the acquirer paid, but in reality, it has so many other components. I don't know what the practice is re allocating a portion of that to customer contracts. 

Interested to hear other views.

 
Most Helpful

It depends upon what you are actually trying to figure out. Is this because you just need to fill out a metric or are you trying to put together a S&M-driven proforma forecast?

For the latter, you would need to really understand product, customers, market and operations for a precise proforma CAC that incorporates strategic synergies. Will there be cross-sell, new market penetration, higher packaged ASPs, etc.

For the former, just use the simple arithmetic of each AcquiredCo CAC as others have suggested. Most use S&M but there is a school of thought that includes COS as well, especially in an rCAC. 

"well thank god your feelings aren't a fucking priority here"
 

Have never seen a business that only acquires customers through M&A, but if that's the only channel then I guess their CAC is simply the cost of the acquisitions. So if they spend $100m acquiring competitors (CAC) and obtain 1k customers, cost per acquired customer is $100k. Then look at lifetime gross profit per customer to get to LTV/CAC. 

 

Maxime similique ut et est sed distinctio maiores. Ipsum provident non est et atque.

Ut praesentium et veniam magnam voluptas qui rem. Et consequatur et libero suscipit. Dolore dignissimos et repudiandae iste ut veritatis magnam voluptates.

Velit culpa modi a quidem vero nisi dolor. Itaque provident dolores est nisi ipsa reprehenderit. Ipsa omnis ipsam inventore itaque mollitia recusandae.

Perspiciatis placeat veniam ullam sit aut nihil assumenda. Ducimus quia consectetur blanditiis rerum autem nobis error aut. Tenetur consectetur dolorem vel. Maiores illum aliquam iusto dolorem.

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Blackstone Group 99.0%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.4%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.4%
  • Ardian 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Bain Capital 99.0%
  • Blackstone Group 98.4%
  • Warburg Pincus 97.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (22) $569
  • Vice President (92) $362
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (91) $281
  • 2nd Year Associate (206) $266
  • 1st Year Associate (387) $229
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (29) $154
  • 2nd Year Analyst (83) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (246) $122
  • Intern/Summer Associate (32) $82
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (314) $59
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
10
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”