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Burn, Runway &
the Pivot Decision

Q3 Board Meeting

Lumen Analytics · Series B · September 2025

Monthly burn is $847K —
34% above the Series B plan

$847K

Annualized overage vs. plan: $2.9M

At current burn, runway exits October 2026 —
11 months shorter than modeled

Enterprise pipeline covers 1.8x quota.
We need 3x to hit plan.

CURRENT PIPELINE

Qualified
$4.1M
Committed
$2.3M
Closed-Won
$1.1M
REQUIRED COVERAGE
$5.9M
Gap: $1.8M
"We signed up on a Friday night, connected our warehouse, and had a dashboard live before Monday standup. Nobody from Lumen ever called us."
Head of Data, Fenwick Supply Co.
Self-serve customer · $28K ARR · 0 CAC

47 similar self-serve accounts in 90 days

Self-serve cohorts outperform enterprise
on every unit-economic metric

Metric Enterprise Direct Self-Serve PLG
CAC $41,000 $1,200
Payback Period 18 months 4 months
12-month NRR 108% 131%
Gross Margin 71% 74%

Four quadrants. One viable path.

Capital Efficiency Growth Velocity Stay Course Hybrid Blend PLG Acceleration Enterprise Double-down

PLG acceleration reaches break-even
18 months earlier than status quo

90 days, three gates, one board checkpoint

1
OCT 2025

Reallocate Headcount

4 AE roles → PLG growth engineering

2
NOV 2025

Launch Self-Serve

Pricing page live, kill outbound SDR spend

3
DEC 2025

Gate Review

$500K net-new self-serve ARR or revert trigger

One resolution.
One tranche.
90 days to validate.

Board Resolution

Authorize the 90-day PLG pivot plan, release the $1.2M reserve tranche, and reconvene in 90 days with gate-2 validation data.

If Authorized

  • ✓ Break-even advances to Q1 2026
  • ✓ CAC drops 97% on new cohorts
  • ✓ 90-day revert trigger if gate fails

If Deferred

  • ✗ Runway erosion continues
  • ✗ Fundraise at weaker position in Q2 2026
  • ✗ PLG window closes to competitors