Implementation revenue

Definition

One-time setup and onboarding fees, which are not recurring even when a summary counts them as ARR.

Why It Matters

Setup fees arrive with a new customer and never repeat, so counting them inside annual recurring revenue inflates both the growth rate and the multiple applied to it. The distortion is largest in the year a product wins several large customers, which is usually the year the business is offered for sale. Ask for revenue split into subscription and one-time, by month, and rebuild the recurring figure yourself. Two lines of a spreadsheet can move the price by a whole turn.