The pipeline math founders never run

Start with the revenue number

Every B2B founder knows their revenue target. Almost none of them have worked backwards from that number to understand exactly how many marketing-qualified leads they need to hit it.

Here's the math framework. Fill in your own numbers.

The backwards calculation

• Target monthly revenue: ₹X
• Average deal size (ADS): ₹Y
• Number of deals needed per month: X ÷ Y = Z deals
• Close rate (proposals to closed deals): typically 20–40% for B2B
• Number of proposals needed: Z ÷ close rate = P proposals
• Proposal rate (qualified calls to proposals): typically 60–80%
• Number of qualified discovery calls needed: P ÷ proposal rate = C calls
• Call booking rate (MQLs to booked calls): typically 15–30%
• Number of MQLs needed: C ÷ call booking rate = M MQLs per month

What this looks like in practice

Target: ₹10L/month revenue
Average deal size: ₹50,000/month retainer
Deals needed: 20
Close rate: 25%
Proposals needed: 80
Proposal rate: 70%
Discovery calls needed: 114
Call booking rate: 20%
MQLs needed: 570 per month

570 MQLs per month. That's the actual marketing requirement to hit ₹10L/month at these conversion rates.

Most founders run ads expecting 50 leads to generate ₹10L. The math doesn't work. And when the revenue doesn't come, they blame the ads.

Where the math usually breaks

The most common break point is the close rate. Most B2B founders estimate their close rate at 50% when the actual rate is 15–20%. This 3x overestimate means they expect to need 190 MQLs when they actually need 570.

The second break point is the average deal size. Founders often use their target deal size rather than their historical average. If your target is ₹1L/month but your average closed deal is ₹40,000, the math collapses.

How to use this to set ad budgets

Once you know your MQL target, you can work forwards to the ad budget:

If your platform CPL (cost per MQL on LinkedIn or Meta) is ₹800 and you need 570 MQLs: Monthly ad budget required: 570 × ₹800 = ₹4.56L/month

If you have ₹50,000/month in ad budget at ₹800 CPL, you're generating 62.5 MQLs. At 20% call rate that's 12 calls. At 25% close rate that's 3 deals. At ₹50,000 ADS that's ₹1.5L/month revenue.

The math is honest. The expectations need to match the budget.

What this means for ELGi

For ELGi Equipment, an international B2B industrial brand, the pipeline requirement across Malaysia, South East Asia and global markets required a different calculation. Average deal cycles of 6–18 months meant pipeline value was more relevant than closed revenue in the short term. We focused on generating verified pipeline, qualified decision-maker conversations with purchase authority, rather than closed deals. Result: ₹9.60Cr+ in verified B2B pipeline. The pipeline-first approach is the correct one for high-ticket, long-cycle B2B.