About Stack Ledger

Published October 21, 2026 · Updated October 21, 2026 · Checked October 21, 2026

Stack Ledger is a reference publication on startup and SaaS finance. It is written for founders, first finance hires, operators and board members who need to know how a number is defined, how a funding instrument works or what a rule requires, before they act on it.

Who the editors are

Stack Ledger is run by an independent editorial team that signs its work as the Stack Ledger editors. Pages are signed as a team on purpose: each one is held to the same sourcing rules and the same checks, so the standard does not depend on who happened to write it. No page asks you to trust a job title. Each one lists its sources and the day each was read, so you can check the claim yourself.

We read the primary documents ourselves: the SEC and IRS pages, the accounting standard-setters, and the annual reports that public software companies file. We do not run a fund, sell software or services, or take fees from anyone mentioned on a page.

What it covers

15 pages in 5 sections, citing 125 distinct sources: 34 from regulators and tax authorities, 7 from standards bodies, 14 from company filings, 11 from benchmark surveys, 5 from reference works, 54 from vendor guides and press.

• SaaS metrics: How net revenue retention, ARR and MRR, churn and CAC payback are defined and computed, and how ASC 606 turns a subscription into revenue, with worked examples and the definitions public filers use.
• Fundraising mechanics: How venture rounds work from first check to exit, how SAFEs and convertible notes convert through a valuation cap or discount, and what each does to who owns the company.
• Finance operations: How to build a startup annual budget, how to calculate burn rate and runway, and how finance grows from founder-run to a full team, with worked examples and benchmarks.
• Boards and reporting: What a startup board of directors does, how many seats it has at seed and Series A, the duties directors owe the company and what a board financial package contains.
• Startup equity: How incentive and nonstatutory stock options are taxed at grant, exercise and sale, how a 409A valuation sets the strike price, what Rule 701 allows and which forms report an exercise.

What it leaves out

We explain how things work. We do not give investment, tax, accounting or legal advice, we do not tell anyone whether to raise money, grant equity or sell shares, and we do not rate funds, investors or vendors. A page can tell you how a SAFE converts. It cannot tell you whether you should sign one: that is a question for your own lawyer and accountant, who know your facts.

How a page is made

• Research. The editors pick the question a reader brings, then read what the leading search results and the primary documents say about it.
• Sources saved. The primary pages are saved and every figure, rule and definition in a draft is tied to a passage in a saved page. A fact with no passage is dropped.
• Checks before publication. Before publication, scripts confirm that each quoted passage appears in the saved source, that every sourced number in the text is in a quoted passage, that the same fact reads the same on every page, and that the page answers the questions the leading results answer. Worked examples use round numbers the editors chose, are labelled as our own arithmetic, and the editors recompute them by hand.
• Read-through. The page is read for contradictions, jargon and anything the source does not support, and sent back when it fails.
• Dated. Each page shows when it was published, updated and checked, and each source shows the day it was read.

How often pages are updated

Rules and rates change, so pages that cite a tax figure, a securities rule or a benchmark report are re-read against their sources at least once every six months and whenever the source publishes a new edition. A page that changes gets a new updated date and an entry on What changed. A factual error is logged on the corrections page with the date and the fix.

Reach us

Write to editors@david-stack.com with the page address and, if you can, the passage in the source that shows the right fact. We aim to answer within five working days. Never send account numbers, tax identifiers or confidential company data. More on the contact page.