Prior-Quarter Total Customers
The total active customer-logo count at the END of the prior reporting period — the opening balance for the current period's logo bridge. The board reads this so the bespoke customers card can show beginning vs. ending logos and the net change without having to re-derive the opening balance from `total_customers − new + churned`. Common pitfall: silently re-stating the prior total after a definitional change to "customer" — hold the counting unit constant or footnote the restatement. — Customers KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier)
No public third-party standard anchors this KPI yet, so I'mBoard authors and maintains the definition — transparently labeled as editorial tier. See the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system and the back-attribution workstream.
Rogue ID: customers.prior_quarter_total_customers
Type: Number
Domain: Customers
Definition
The total active customer-logo count at the END of the prior reporting period — the opening balance for the current period's logo bridge. The board reads this so the bespoke customers card can show beginning vs. ending logos and the net change without having to re-derive the opening balance from total_customers − new + churned. Common pitfall: silently re-stating the prior total after a definitional change to "customer" — hold the counting unit constant or footnote the restatement.
Formula
Active paying customer logos at the prior period close. Serves as the opening balance: prior_quarter_total_customers + new_customers_added − customers_churned = total_customers.Why it matters
Gives the board the explicit beginning-of-period logo balance so the logo bridge reconciles without inference.
How to interpret
When this plus net change does not equal customers.total_customers, a definitional change or mid-period restatement happened — surface it rather than absorbing it silently.
Related KPIs
customers.total_customerscustomers.new_customers_addedcustomers.customers_churned
Source
I'mBoard editorial — authored and maintained by I'mBoard, first published 2026-04-01. No third-party standard is cited for this KPI; when one emerges, the definition is back-attributed and promoted to the published tier (a minor version bump). Read the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system, attribution rules, and dispute process.
Stage relevance
| Company stage | Priority |
|---|---|
| Pre-Seed | Core |
| Seed | Core |
| Series A | Core |
| Series B | Core |
| Series C+ | Core |
| Public | Core |
Suggested for stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C+, Public.
Default owning functions
- Sales
Machine-readable
- This KPI as JSON:
/api/ontology/customers/prior_quarter_total_customers.json - All Customers KPIs:
/api/ontology/customers.json - Full catalog:
/api/ontology/index.json
Prior-Quarter NRR
Net Revenue Retention reported in the PRIOR period — the comparison anchor for the current `customers.net_revenue_retention`. The board reads the two together to render the NRR trend on the bespoke customers retention grid. Per the SMSB NRR cohort definition, both periods must use the same closed-start-cohort methodology for the delta to be meaningful. Common pitfall: comparing an NRR computed on a different cohort window across the two periods. — Customers KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
Retention Reporting Method
Whether the company TRACKS cohort retention (NRR/GRR) or does NOT yet track it — the explicit signal the bespoke customers retention grid reads to choose between the tracked 4-card retention view and the not-tracked empty state. Value is `tracked` or `not_tracked`. Without this canonical field the card has to INFER "tracked" and can never honestly render the not-tracked state. Common pitfall: leaving NRR/GRR blank to mean "not tracked" — that is ambiguous with "tracked but zero"; this explicit enum removes the ambiguity. — Customers KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).