What belongs on the first slide of a subscription board pack

Boards rarely need twenty charts. They need an opening that answers: are we growing, retaining, and collecting?

For analytics reporting packs we commission, the first slide usually carries four numbers only:

• Closing MRR (or membership dues equivalent)
• Net new MRR for the period
• Logo or membership churn rate with the definition footnoted
• Cash collected versus billed, when payment timing matters

Detail lives on later slides: cohort tables, plan mix, geographic splits. Opening with a cohort heatmap trains the room to squint instead of decide.

When a metric moved for a one-off reason — a bulk renewal, a price rise, a migration — put a single sentence under the number. Silence invites improvisation from whoever speaks first.