The platform

Three sources.
One clear picture.

Common Thread connects your pipeline, project performance, and accounting software, then turns them into the handful of views that actually change what you do. Here is each one, and the decision it helps you make.

See the views
01Live and Pipeline

Real-time cash flow

A six-month forecast that updates the moment your pipeline moves.

It combines your invoicing schedule, weighted pipeline, recurring costs, and tax liability into one forward view, so runway stops being a spreadsheet you rebuild every fortnight.

SIX-MONTH CASH FLOW ON TRACK
£0k£80k£160k£240k£320kRESERVE TARGET · £120KJul '26Aug '26Sep '26Oct '26Nov '26Dec '26Cash positionInvoicedPipelineRecurringRUNWAY 8.9 MONTHS · CASH £260K
Shows

Six months of projected cash, updated live.

Tells you

When cash tightens, and when it frees up.

Supports the decision

When you can hire, invest, or need to act early.

02Financial data

Monthly KPI dashboard

The numbers an FD would watch, with traffic lights and industry benchmarks.

Your P&L from Xero or QuickBooks, restructured into agency-native KPIs and refreshed monthly. Green, amber, red tells you what is healthy at a glance, and context explains what is driving each number.

KEY METRICS BENCHMARKED
Revenue per headHIGHER IS BETTERBENCHMARK£108,492ON TRACKPeople cost ratioLOWER IS BETTERBENCHMARK54%ON TRACKPayroll vs freelanceBALANCEPAYROLL 73%FREELANCE 27%BENCHMARK73 / 27ON TRACKNet profit marginHIGHER IS BETTERBENCHMARK21.4%ON TRACK
Shows

Your core metrics, benchmarked to the industry.

Tells you

What is on track, and what needs attention now.

Supports the decision

Where to focus this month, before it slips.

03Project performance

Where margins are made and lost

Closed projects dissected at agency, client, project, service, and team level.

Not real-time task tracking, and not a project management tool. This is strategic analysis of completed work, so you can see which work and which clients actually carry the studio, and which quietly drain it.

PROJECT PERFORMANCE · MARGIN BY LEVEL DRILL IN & OUT
AgencyClientProjectServiceTeamREVENUE & MARGIN BY AGENCY · CLOSED PROJECTS · TAP TO DRILLBrand & identityREVENUE£1.24MMARGIN42%Digital & productREVENUE£980kMARGIN31%MotionREVENUE£740kMARGIN26%StrategyREVENUE£520kMARGIN48%
Shows

True margin at every level of the business.

Tells you

Which work is profitable, and which is not.

Supports the decision

What to build around, renegotiate, or drop.

04Project performance

Utilisation by role

The distribution across your roles, not one blended average.

See how utilisation sits across seniors, mid-weights, juniors, and freelancers against target. The blended number hides the truth; the distribution is where the capacity and margin decisions actually live.

UTILISATION BY ROLE · TARGET 80%
Senior86%
Mid-weight72%
Junior58%
Freelance91%
Shows

Utilisation by role, against a healthy target.

Tells you

Where you are over-stretched or carrying slack.

Supports the decision

Hiring, freelance mix, and capacity planning.

05Project + financial

Client profitability over time

Every relationship tracked on margin, month after month.

Your favourite client might be your least profitable, and a slipping retainer rarely announces itself. Seeing the trend, not just a snapshot, tells you which relationships are worth building around.

MARGIN TREND · 6 MONTHS
Northwind
Atlas & Co
Meridian
Shows

Margin trend for each client relationship.

Tells you

Which relationships strengthen or erode over time.

Supports the decision

Who to grow, renegotiate, or let go.

06Financial data

The accountant playbook

A simple guide to get your books to best practice.

Reliable monthly reporting depends on well-structured books. We give you and your accountant a clear playbook to get there, so the numbers flowing into Common Thread are clean and comparable. We complement your accountant; we never replace them.

BOOKS TO BEST PRACTICE
Chart of accounts, agency-standard
Revenue recognition set up right
Monthly close, not quarterly
Clean, benchmarkable reporting
Shows

The steps to books that report monthly.

Tells you

What good looks like, and where you stand.

Supports the decision

How to unlock reliable monthly management reporting.

The sum of it

Exit-ready operations,
by default.

Run the platform month to month and the standard takes care of itself. Clean financials, real-time visibility, benchmarked performance, documented operations. What makes a business valuable is exactly what makes it better to run today.

Clean financials

Books kept to best practice, every month.

Real-time visibility

Six months of runway, always current.

Benchmarked performance

KPIs measured against the industry.

Documented operations

The systems, written down and repeatable.

How it fits

Connects your stack.
Changes no habits.

Common Thread connects to Xero and QuickBooks, alongside the pipeline and project tools you already run. It sits on top and does the interpretation. Your team keeps working exactly as they do today.

XeroQuickBooksYour pipelineYour project tools
See it on your numbers

See the whole
picture.

Book a demo and we will connect your real data, then walk you through every view in the language your business already runs on.

Agency finance. Creative grade.