Total Sales & Marketing
Total sales & marketing operating expense for the period — the sum of the S&M lines (payroll, commissions, marketing, paid media, events, tools, other). One of the four OpEx section totals. — Finance 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: finance.total_sm
Type: Currency
Domain: Finance
Definition
Total sales & marketing operating expense for the period — the sum of the S&M lines (payroll, commissions, marketing, paid media, events, tools, other). One of the four OpEx section totals.
Formula
total_sm = sales_payroll + sales_commissions + marketing_payroll + paid_marketing + events_conferences + sm_tools_software + other_sm.Why it matters
The headline go-to-market spend line; the numerator behind blended CAC.
How to interpret
Track against new ARR/bookings and budget; decompose into the S&M lines to explain change.
Related KPIs
finance.sales_payrollfinance.sales_commissionsfinance.marketing_payrollfinance.paid_marketingfinance.events_conferencesfinance.sm_tools_softwarefinance.other_smfinance.total_opex
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 |
|---|---|
| Series A | Recommended |
| Series B | Recommended |
| Series C+ | Recommended |
| Public | Recommended |
Suggested for stages: Series A, Series B, Series C+, Public.
Default owning functions
- Finance
Machine-readable
- This KPI as JSON:
/api/ontology/finance/total_sm.json - All Finance KPIs:
/api/ontology/finance.json - Full catalog:
/api/ontology/index.json
Total R&D
Total research & development operating expense for the period — the sum of the R&D lines. One of the four OpEx section totals that roll into Total OpEx. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
Unrestricted Cash
Cash that the company can freely deploy for any operational purpose — total bank balances minus any contractually restricted balances. This is the input most boards actually want when judging runway, because it strips out escrows, security deposits, and processor reserves that cannot be spent on payroll or vendors. The distinction matters more as the company adds enterprise contracts (deposit obligations), debt facilities (covenant balances), and payment processing volume (rolling reserves). Common pitfall: at early stage, restricted cash is often near zero so teams equate this with `finance.total_cash_in_bank` — track them separately from day one to avoid surprise reclassifications later. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).