C
Cresta Studio
Studio Intelligence
Live · Last sync 4 min ago Mon, May 11, 2026
Monday Brief — 08:30 EST

Your biggest client.
Your worst margin.

A look at where Cresta Studio's $2.8M ARR actually lands — past the retainer headline, past the team hours, down to profit per FTE.

01
Monday Brief
This month vs last month
The number that matters
Net Profit · per FTE · this month
$4,820
↓ 12.1% vs $5,480 last month
MRR · Retainers
$186k
↑ 5.2%
Active Clients
12
— flat
Team Utilization
71%
↓ 4.2 pts
Realization Rate
68%
↓ 6 pts
!
MRR is up. Profit per FTE is down 12%. The team is logging more hours than ever, but the highest-revenue client is consuming 28% of capacity at well below market rate. See Section 02.
02
Client Profit Truth
Per client · Last 30 days
Gross MRR · 30d
$186,400
Across 12 active retainers + 3 project bookings
Net Profit · 30d
$67,480
36.2% true margin (after payroll, tools, overhead)
Profit Leaked
– $1,200
From 1 client billing below cost

Per-client profitability

Ranked by gross profit · This month
Client
Retainer
Hours
Eff. rate
Profit
Margin
Status
Lume Skincare
$18,000
142
$127/hr
$8,200
46%
Scale
Brewers Hill Coffee
$12,000
92
$130/hr
$5,800
48%
Anchor
Hexa Studio Lighting
$8,500
64
$133/hr
$3,600
42%
Healthy
Halcyon Home
$9,500
86
$110/hr
$3,400
36%
Healthy
Ember Candle Co.
$6,000
38
$158/hr
$3,100
52%
Healthy
Sundry Bath Co.
$15,000
168
$89/hr
$2,100
14%
Margin risk
Northwoods Apparel
$24,000
412
$58/hr
– $1,200
–5%
Losing money

Revenue contribution

By client this month · Top 7
Northwoods Apparel
$24,000
Lume Skincare
$18,000
Sundry Bath Co.
$15,000
Brewers Hill Coffee
$12,000
Halcyon Home
$9,500

Profit contribution

Where money actually lands · Top 7
Lume Skincare
$8,200
Brewers Hill Coffee
$5,800
Hexa Studio
$3,600
Halcyon Home
$3,400
Northwoods Apparel
– $1,200
"
The aha

Northwoods is your biggest client. And your only unprofitable one.

They pay $24K/month but consume 412 hours — an effective rate of $58/hr against a target of $125/hr. The team's busiest people are working hardest on the only account that loses you money. Renegotiating their scope (or letting them go) would free 412 hours/month — capacity worth $30,000 in profitable client work.

03
Team & Utilization
Per-FTE view · Target 70%
Total FTEs
14
8 creative · 4 strategy · 2 account management
Avg Utilization
71%
Target 70% · Healthy but uneven across team
Bench Cost
$14,200
Non-billable hours this month at fully-loaded rate

Utilization by team member

Billable / available hours · Target 70%
Engineer B
92%
AM 2
88%
Strategist 1
82%
Designer A
78%
AM 1
74%
Strategist 2
71%
Engineer A
68%
Designer B
58%

Hours consumed by client

Top 6 this month · Total 994 hrs
Northwoods Apparel
412
Sundry Bath Co.
168
Lume Skincare
142
Brewers Hill
92
Halcyon Home
86
Hexa Studio
64
!
Engineer B is at 92% utilization. Designer B is at 58%. The team's workload is dangerously uneven. Engineer B is a flight risk; Designer B has $5,200/month in bench cost. Rebalancing — including moving Northwoods design work onto Designer B — could fix both problems in one move.
04
Pipeline & Churn Risk
Forward 90 days · Net new MRR view
Pipeline Value · MRR
$72,000
6 active deals · Weighted: $31,400 at current win rates
Net New MRR · MTD
+$9,000
1 won (Ember Candle), 0 churned, 1 expansion
MRR At Risk
$39,000
2 accounts showing churn signals

Pipeline by stage

Total pipeline · $72,000 MRR across 6 deals
Discovery
3 deals
25% win rate
$42,000
Proposal
2 deals
45% win rate
$18,000
Negotiation
1 deal
70% win rate
$12,000
Won · MTD
1 deal
closed
$9,000

Churn risk signals

Engagement + payment + NPS composite
High risk
Northwoods Apparel
Slack response time up 3x. Last QBR 87 days ago. Account lead asked to "rescope" twice this month.
MRR at risk $24,000
Medium risk
Sundry Bath Co.
Last invoice 14 days overdue. NPS dropped from 9 → 6. Founder hasn't joined last 3 monthly calls.
MRR at risk $15,000
Healthy
10 other accounts
All other clients show healthy engagement, on-time payments, and stable NPS. Lume + Brewers Hill expressed expansion interest.
Combined MRR $147,400
05
Cash & Receivables
Today · Forward 6 months

Accounts receivable aging

Outstanding invoices by age · Total $148,000
0 – 30 days
$84,000
31 – 60 days
$38,000
61 – 90 days
$22,000
90+ days
$4,000

Cash runway

At current burn · Excluding new revenue
Cash on hand
$312,000
Monthly burn
$238,400
Runway at current burn
~5.5 months
Now 3 mo 6 mo 9 mo
!
$26,000 overdue from Sundry Bath Co. Their $15K invoice from March is now 14 days late, and their February invoice is in the 60+ day bucket. Same client also showing medium churn risk (Section 04). A direct call from the founder, not the AM, is the highest-ROI action this week.
∴
The full picture

Three moves. +$11,400/month in profit.

Renegotiate Northwoods to $32K/month or step away — frees 412 hours of capacity worth ~$8,500 in profitable work. Collect $26,000 from Sundry Bath this week. Rebalance Designer B onto Northwoods overflow to reclaim $5,200/month in bench cost. The studio doesn't need more clients — it needs the right ones at the right rates.

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