Unit Economics

5. Analysis & Report Synthesis

Section 1: Business Model & Unit Definition (brief)

• 2-3 sentence description of what the "unit" is for this business
• Why this decomposition matters for understanding the company's economics
• What the revenue build-up looks like: units × revenue-per-unit, or equivalent

Section 2: Revenue Decomposition

• Show the bottoms-up revenue build: how units × price/rate × utilization (or equivalent) bridges to reported revenue
• Table: quarterly history (10 quarters) showing each component
• Highlight which lever is driving growth: volume vs. price vs. mix
• Include growth rates (YoY) as sub-rows beneath each metric

Section 3: Unit-Level Profitability The core of the report. Show margin/profitability at the unit level over time:

• For SaaS: gross margin per customer, CAC payback period, LTV/CAC ratio
• For restaurants: 4-wall EBITDA margin, new unit payback, cash-on-cash return
• For marketplace: contribution margin per order, after accounting for fulfillment/transaction costs
• For insurance: loss ratio + expense ratio = combined ratio per policy
• For hardware: gross margin per unit, cost per unit breakdown
• Adapt to whatever the business actually is
• Table: historical trend with period-over-period change
• Explicitly call out whether unit economics are improving or deteriorating and by how much

Section 4: Cohort / Vintage Analysis (if data supports it)

• For subscription businesses: net retention curves, expansion vs. contraction
• For unit-based businesses: same-store vs. new-store contribution, unit maturation
• For lending: vintage loss curves, seasoning
• If insufficient data for true cohort analysis, note this and substitute with proxy analysis (e.g., new customer growth rate vs. retention rate implies cohort behavior)

Section 5: Scalability & Operating Leverage

• How do unit economics change as the business scales?
• Fixed cost absorption: which costs are truly fixed vs. variable per unit?
• Show operating leverage by plotting revenue growth vs. cost growth
• Incremental margins: are they expanding or compressing as the business grows?

Section 6: Key Drivers & What to Watch This is the most analytically valuable section. Based on the data, identify:

• The 3-5 metrics that matter most for this company's unit economics, ranked by sensitivity / impact
• For each metric: current level, historical range, direction of travel, and what would cause it to inflect
• Bull case drivers: what would improve unit economics (e.g., pricing power, mix shift to higher-margin products, operating leverage kicking in, retention improving)
• Bear case risks: what would deteriorate unit economics (e.g., competitive pricing pressure, rising CAC, input cost inflation, regulatory impact on take rates)
• Connect each driver to its P&L impact: "a 100bps improvement in net retention would add ~$X to ARR" or "each new store generates ~$Xm in 4-wall EBITDA in year 2"

Section 7: Summary Assessment

• 3-4 sentence verdict on the health and trajectory of the company's unit economics
• Is this a business with improving, stable, or deteriorating unit economics?
• What is the single most important thing to monitor going forward?

Analytical standards:

• Three-layer density: every data point should have context (vs. prior period, vs. peers if known) and an implication (what it means for the investment case)
• Show your math: when you derive a metric (e.g., implied CAC = S&M expense / new customers added), show the calculation explicitly so the reader can verify
• Flag data gaps: if a key metric for the archetype isn't available in Daloopa's data, say so explicitly and explain what proxy you used or why the analysis is limited
• No generic filler: if you don't have data to support a section, skip it or shorten it. Never pad with boilerplate
• Source everything: every number should be traceable. Use Daloopa source citations per the design system conventions
• Prefer rates and ratios over absolutes: unit economics are about efficiency, not scale. Lead with margins, returns, and per-unit metrics. Include absolutes as context

6. Charts

Use infra/chart_generator.py for charts. Include at minimum:

1. A revenue decomposition chart (waterfall or time-series showing units × price → revenue)
2. A unit profitability trend chart (time-series showing the key unit margin metric over time)
3. Additional charts as warranted by the archetype (e.g., net retention waterfall for SaaS, same-store sales trend for restaurants, take rate trend for marketplaces)

All charts must be embedded in the HTML as base64 data URIs (e.g., <img src="data:image/png;base64,...">) so the report is fully self-contained with no external file dependencies. After generating each chart PNG, read the file and convert to base64 for embedding. Do not use relative <img src="filename.png"> paths.

If chart_generator.py is unavailable, embed simple inline SVG charts directly in the HTML.

7. Save Report

Save to reports/{TICKER}_unit_economics.html using the HTML report template from ../design-system.md. Write the full analysis as styled HTML with the design system CSS inlined. This is the final deliverable — no intermediate markdown step needed.

Structure the report with these sections:

<h1>{Company Name} ({TICKER}) — Unit Economics Analysis</h1>
<p>Generated: {date}</p>

<h2>Summary</h2>
{2-3 sentences: What is the "unit"? Are unit economics improving or deteriorating? Key takeaway.}

<h2>Business Model & Unit Definition</h2>
{Section 1 content}

<h2>Revenue Decomposition</h2>
<table>
| Component | Q(-9) | Q(-8) | ... | Q(latest) |
{Units, revenue per unit, revenue — with Daloopa citations and YoY growth sub-rows}
</table>
{Commentary on volume vs. price drivers}

<h2>Unit-Level Profitability</h2>
<table>
| Metric | Q(-9) | Q(-8) | ... | Q(latest) |
{Archetype-specific unit margins — with Daloopa citations}
</table>
{Commentary on unit economics trajectory}

<h2>Cohort / Vintage Analysis</h2>
{Section 4 content, or note if insufficient data}

<h2>Scalability & Operating Leverage</h2>
<table>
| Metric | Q(-9) | Q(-8) | ... | Q(latest) |
{Revenue growth vs cost growth, incremental margins}
</table>
{Operating leverage assessment}

<h2>Key Drivers & What to Watch</h2>
{Ranked drivers with sensitivity analysis and bull/bear scenarios}

<h2>Summary Assessment</h2>
{3-4 sentence verdict}

All financial figures must use Daloopa citation format: <a href="https://daloopa.com/src/{fundamental_id}">$X.XX million</a>

Tell the user where the HTML report was saved.

Highlight the 2-3 most important findings about the company's unit economics and what they signal for the investment case.