For too long, executives have poo-pooed marketing's ability to understand metrics and speak the alphabet-soup business language adopted by SaaS. Many have even heard our department jokingly referred to as "the arts and crafts" department. This misconception stems from no "gold standard" for marketing key performance indicators, a lack of consistency in what investors ask from their portfolio companies to prove marketing "works," and a lack of understanding of the challenges marketers face when summarizing their data.