CAC and LTV slide [Metrics that matter]

Our client, Nicole, a VP of Growth, asked us an interesting question while we were building their CAC and LTV slide:

“How do we show CAC and LTV in a way that actually makes investors pay attention?”

Our Creative Director answered,

“By showing just enough to make them ask more.”

As a presentation design agency, we work on many CAC and LTV slides throughout the year, especially for pitch decks, board decks, and fundraising narratives. And in the process, we’ve observed one common challenge: most founders either over-explain or under-prove.

So, in this blog, we’ll talk about how to nail your CAC and LTV slide, the one metric slide that can make or break investor confidence.

In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.

Why the CAC and LTV Slide Is a Big Deal

Let’s be clear. If your deck has a CAC and LTV slide, you’re not just reporting metrics. You’re making a case for your business model.

This one slide answers the unspoken question in every investor’s head: “If I pour money into this machine, what comes out?”

And when the answer isn’t obvious, or worse, buried under 14 different assumptions and vanity metrics, you lose the room. Fast.

We’ve seen this happen too many times. A founder gets to their metrics slide. They’re excited, they know their stuff, they’ve lived these numbers. But the slide? It’s a wall of data with no story. No context. No contrast. No reason to care.

The CAC and LTV slide is not the place for internal dashboards. It’s not your retention report or a spreadsheet parade. This is where you sell the health of your growth engine in one visual.

That’s the job.

And it’s a hard one. Because CAC and LTV aren’t static. They’re moving targets. Early stage? Your CAC is high and LTV is mostly a guess. Post product market fit? CAC settles, LTV starts to get real. Series C? Now you’re defending margins and scale.

So, the way you show these numbers has to change depending on where you are. There’s no one template that works across the board.

But there is a method that helps you frame the story. And that’s what we’ll get into next.

Solving the CAC and LTV Slide Problem

Let’s start with the basics, because most people get the definition right but the presentation wrong.

CAC is what it costs you to acquire a customer. LTV is what you earn from that customer over the course of the relationship. When you put them side by side, you’re making a statement. You're saying: “Here’s how much it costs to win someone, and here’s how much they’re worth once we do.”

Sounds simple. Until you realize that one bad assumption in either number can wreck your slide.

We’ve reviewed over 300 decks in the last two years and the CAC and LTV slide is one of the most commonly mishandled. Either it’s too vague, or too bloated, or just plain unconvincing. And the fix is almost always the same: tell a tighter story.

Let’s break it down.

1. Stop treating CAC and LTV like isolated numbers

Too many slides show CAC and LTV in two neat boxes like disconnected factoids. That’s a mistake. These two numbers are Siamese twins. They only make sense in relation to each other.

A CAC of $500 means nothing unless I know you’re making $3000 over the customer lifetime. And $3000 in LTV means little if it took you $2000 in performance marketing to get there.

So don’t just drop the numbers. Show the ratio. Show the payback period. Show the margin if it helps. And if you’re early stage and the LTV is more of a projection than a fact, be upfront about that too.

We had a client who wanted to show a CAC of $280 and an LTV of $2200. On paper, that looked great. But when we asked how long it took to realize that $2200, they said 36 months. And churn kicked in after month 9.

See the problem? LTV is only as believable as the retention behind it.

2. Make your assumptions visible but subtle

Investors don’t expect perfect numbers. They expect to see how you think.

If your CAC is blended, say so. If it’s just paid acquisition, specify that. If your LTV is based on 12-month gross margin and a modeled churn curve, you can note that in fine print or footnote — just enough to signal that you're not bluffing.

What doesn’t work is hiding all the math and hoping no one asks.

On a CAC and LTV slide, confidence is shown by clarity. Not by stacking rows of calculations. Not by flashy graphics. Not by saying “proprietary acquisition funnel” with no context.

We often suggest a simple visual: show CAC and LTV as blocks, with the LTV bar literally towering over the CAC bar. Then drop in two or three points — like payback period, gross margin, and maybe retention at month 12. That’s it. The less noise, the more power.

3. Don’t make CAC and LTV look like magic

Another trap we see is when founders throw in CAC and LTV numbers that feel too perfect. Like CAC is exactly $187 and LTV is $2453, with a 13.1x ratio. It sounds impressive, but it makes the audience suspicious.

Real numbers are a little messy. They fluctuate across segments. They vary by cohort. If your slide reads like a fantasy model with no grounding in customer behavior, it’ll tank your credibility fast.

Instead, give context. Show trends. Show how CAC has dropped over the last two quarters due to organic acquisition or improved funnel conversion. Or show how LTV has grown because you introduced annual billing or expanded into higher-value segments.

The best CAC and LTV slides are not static snapshots. They’re short stories. They show movement. And movement builds confidence.

4. Tailor the slide to your stage

We can’t stress this enough. A Seed stage startup should not present CAC and LTV the same way a Series C company does.

At Seed, these are mostly directional. Your CAC is high because you’re testing channels. Your LTV is a bet on what you think customers will do if they stay. So be conservative. Acknowledge the limitations. Show early patterns, not just the endgame.

At Series A or B, you’re starting to have real data. Your CAC by channel is clearer. Your LTV can be segmented. Now the slide can show how these metrics have improved with better targeting or retention efforts. Maybe you’ve cut CAC in half by building a referral loop. Say that.

By Series C, investors want to see scalability. They want to know your CAC doesn’t double every time you increase spend. They want to see how LTV holds up across different cohorts. Your slide needs to be less about storytelling and more about proof.

This is where your CAC and LTV slide becomes less about “look how good we are” and more about “look how predictable this machine is.”

5. Avoid stuffing the slide with marketing fluff

Every now and then, we see a CAC and LTV slide with four badges, two testimonials, a “customer love” quote, and a big “Look at our NPS!” number.

No. This is not the place.

This is a numbers slide. Not a brand credibility slide. Not a user love slide. Let your metrics do the talking.

One of our clients had killer LTV numbers — real retention, high upsells, clean contribution margin. But the slide was lost under “growth loops,” “brand equity flywheels,” and a dozen other buzzwords.

Once we stripped it all away and just showed the CAC to LTV ratio along with a 9-month payback period, the conversation shifted. The investors leaned in. They asked questions. They saw a business, not a pitch.

6. Your CAC and LTV are part of your bigger narrative

No one is investing in your CAC or your LTV. They’re investing in what those numbers mean about your business.

A great CAC and LTV slide reinforces the bigger story. If your whole pitch is about how efficient your customer acquisition is, then your CAC better be airtight. If your narrative is about long-term customer value and product-led growth, then the LTV needs to stand tall with real retention data.

This is where design matters too. We don’t mean making it pretty. We mean building the slide so the numbers pop in the right order. So the ratio is obvious. So the footnotes don’t bury the lead. So the investor gets the message in under five seconds.

Because if they don’t get it by then, they’ll never ask the follow-up. And if they don’t ask the follow-up, the slide didn’t do its job.

7. One killer graph can replace five bullet points

In some cases, the best way to show CAC and LTV is to not show the numbers at all — at least not up front.

Instead, you show a line chart. CAC trending down. LTV trending up. Overlay both lines. Show the moment they diverge. Add a dot for where you are now.

That visual says more than paragraphs ever could. It says your engine is improving. It says you’re getting better at this. And if you can own the voiceover during this slide, you can walk your audience through your thinking in real time.

Nicole’s final slide ended up being one of the simplest ones we’ve done all year. CAC: $312. LTV: $2280. Payback: 7.2 months. With a footnote: “Based on last three cohorts, 12-month gross margin.”

That’s it.

The rest of the conversation happened after the meeting. Which is exactly what you want.

---

Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?

If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.

---

Explore Case Studies | Get to Know Us | Start Your Project