“Golf is seasonal. Looking at week-over-week or even month-over-month metrics would tell me the business was dying every October. The only number that tells the true story is the same month last year — that's where I can see compound growth happening.”

Seasonal apps look flat week-to-week — only same-month year-over-year reveals whether you're compounding

Duffett warns against applying standard SaaS metric cadences to seasonal apps. Monthly MRR trend lines show frightening drops every autumn and look deceptively strong every spring — neither tells you if the business is actually growing. Year-over-year same-month comparisons remove seasonal noise and reveal whether retention is compounding, cohorts are expanding, and absolute numbers are improving.