Demand stays ahead of plan for the year, and August turned into a closed-won breakout. YTD closed-won reached $222.4K across 36 Higher-Ed deals (15 closed in August alone) and CAC fell to $5,461. This week demand rose (MQLs +33% to 20) while SQL and opp creation paused at zero — yet $28.8K closed and $26.3K in new pipeline landed from earlier cohorts. Conferences turned ROI-positive and blended marketing ROI flipped positive.
Cost / MQL
$278
QTD · $69 cost per lead
CAC · YTD
$5,461
▼from $36.3K 36 deals closed
Closed-Won YTD
$222.4K
of $500K goal
Pipeline Created
$979K
of $2M goal · 2026
Demand & funnel · this week
Lead → MQL 52.6%
MQL → SQL 0.0%
Downstream: 0 Opps · $26,340 new pipeline (vs $0 last week) · $28,778 closed-won across 4 deals (▼15.9%). Spend rose +9.5% and leads fell −30.9%, while MQLs climbed to 20 (▲33.3%). SQL and opp creation paused at zero, yet 4 deals closed and $26.3K of pipeline was created — closes and new pipeline came from earlier cohorts.
SQLs and opps read 0 this week even though deals closed, because closes convert from earlier-week cohorts — a lag effect, not a data error.
Pacing to plan · YTD vs annual goal (~62% of year elapsed)
MQLs YTD
691 / 960
72% of annual · 80/mo target
▲ Ahead of pacePipeline Created 2026
$979K / $2M
49% of goal · Higher-Ed, ex-UA
▼ Behind paceClosed-Won YTD
$222.4K / $500K
44% of goal · 36 Higher-Ed deals
▼ Behind paceAvg deal : CAC
~1.1 : 1
$6.2K avg deal ÷ $5.5K CAC
▲ Deal value now covers CAC
Targets: 960 MQLs, $2M pipeline, $500K revenue (annual). Pipeline Created, Closed-Won YTD, and CAC are all HubSpot-sourced from the Higher-Ed pipeline (753473109), current as of this pull. Pipeline Created = 2026-created deals excluding University of Alabama (the $2.5M "Culverhouse Wide" deal plus UA-Tuscaloosa course deals are excluded) — $979K across 116 deals. Closed-Won YTD = 36 deals with a 2026 close date, $222.4K total. Pace = share of annual goal vs. ~62% of the year elapsed.
CAC vs. deal size: YTD CAC is $5,461 — $196.6K marketing spend ÷ 36 Higher-Ed closed-won deals — down sharply from ~$36K earlier in the year. The average won deal (~$6.2K; median ~$2.7K) now roughly covers first-year CAC (~1.1:1), the first time deal value has crossed the acquisition cost. CAC would be lower still but for ~$89.4K of Paid Ads + Paid Social spend with $0 closed-won. A true LTV:CAC needs a retention rate HubSpot can't give yet.
Spend efficiency
Cost / MQL
$278
QTD · spend ÷ MQLs
CAC · YTD
$5,461
spend ÷ 36 closed-won · HubSpot
Spend · YTD
$196.6K
$2,631 this week
Channel ROI · YTD (marketing sheet · all channels)
Events – Virtual$1.1K spend · $8.6K won
+683%
LinkedIn Outbound$3.1K spend · $11.6K won
+276%
Other$10K spend · $16.8K won
+68%
Events – Conferences$94.4K spend · $114.4K won
+21%
Paid Ads$34.3K spend · $0 won
−100%
Paid Social$55.1K spend · $0 won
−100%
◀ negative ROI · 0 · positive ROI ▶
Conferences flipped positive (+21%) as $114.4K closed-won overtook $94.4K spend; Events–Virtual (+683%) and LinkedIn Outbound (+276%) remain the top-return channels. Zero-spend channels drove real revenue too — Land & Expand $35.1K and Referral $33.4K closed-won on $0 marketing spend. Paid Ads + Paid Social: ~$89.4K spend, still $0 closed-won YTD (Paid Ads does carry $180K in pipeline).
Blended YTD: $196.6K spend → ~$890K attributed pipeline · $222.4K closed-won (+13% ROI to date, up from −60%). Marketing spend is now net-positive on closed-won alone, before the rest of that pipeline converts.
Basis: weekly funnel figures (leads, MQLs, this-week closed-won) come from the marketing spreadsheet's 8/10 snapshot; Closed-Won YTD, CAC, and Pipeline Created are pulled from HubSpot (Higher-Ed pipeline) and are current as of the pull, so they run slightly ahead of the 8/10 week. Data caveat: in the weekly channel view, LinkedIn Outbound / Outbound / Referral still show identical figures ($148 · 17 MQLs) — a mapping or placeholder issue to verify. QTD Cost/MQL is recomputed here as QTD spend ÷ QTD MQLs ($43.1K ÷ 155 = $278); the workbook's Dashboard cell reads $155, which just echoes the MQL count rather than a cost. Reporting week 8/10/26.