How to Share Your Startup Revenue Publicly (Safely)

By the ShowMRR team · Updated 2026-10-30

The safest way to share revenue is a read-only key: you give a number-reading tool a key that can only look at subscriptions, and you can delete that key whenever you like. The other two ways are publishing your own open page and typing the number in yourself. This guide covers all three, how to create a read-only key at Stripe, Polar and LemonSqueezy, what ShowMRR can and cannot see, what becomes public, and when you should not share revenue at all.

What are the ways to share startup revenue publicly?

1. Connect a read-only key. ShowMRR reads the number from your payment provider itself. If the last successful sync was less than 72 hours ago, the figure is labelled Verified. Syncs run about hourly.
2. Publish your own open page. Many founders keep an “open startup” or transparency page on their own site. You control that page, so you can change or remove it at any time. A figure read from such a page is labelled Self-reported, because nobody has checked it against a payment provider. ShowMRR describes how it reads these pages on the About page.
3. Self-report. You type the number in. It is shown as Self-reported with the date, and ShowMRR does not audit businesses.

If you want a figure people can lean on, connect a key. For how the labels are decided, see the methodology page and How to Verify Your Startup MRR.

What should I decide before I share?

• Show MRR only, or more? Decide whether MRR is the only number you want public. On ShowMRR the public items are listed below, and the daily history is shown as a short sparkline, so your trend is visible, not just today’s figure.
• Which currency? The figure is shown with its currency. If you connect more than one provider account, ShowMRR sums them only when they share a currency.
• Which products count? MRR is computed from active subscriptions, normalised to monthly, after discounts. Metered usage prices are skipped, so a usage-based product will show less than its total billing.
• Are you comfortable with the trend being public? A dip will be visible too. Decide that now, not after the first bad month.

How do I create a read-only key?

Stripe

ShowMRR accepts only a live-mode restricted key, which starts with rk_live_. Secret keys (sk_), test keys and publishable keys are rejected. Stripe’s own documentation says a restricted key can do only what you give it permission to do, with a choice of Read, Write or None per resource, and that the default for every permission is None (Stripe: Restricted API keys).

1. Open the API keys page in your Stripe Dashboard and make sure you are in live mode, not a sandbox (Stripe: API keys).
2. Click Create restricted key.
3. Give it a name you will recognise, for example “ShowMRR read-only”.
4. Set Read on Subscriptions, Prices, Products and Coupons. Leave everything else at None.
5. Click Create key, complete the two-factor check Stripe sends you, then copy the key. Stripe says you cannot retrieve it later, so paste it into ShowMRR straight away.

A note on the permission names: the four names above are the ones ShowMRR’s connect form asks for. Stripe’s documentation page describes the Read/Write/None model but does not list each resource name, so if Stripe renames one, ShowMRR relays Stripe’s error message, which names the missing permission.

Polar

Polar uses an organization access token tied to one organization. In the Polar dashboard open Settings → Access Tokens, click Create token, give it a name, set an expiration date and choose scopes. Choose read-only scopes only. Polar’s steps are in its Organization Access Tokens documentation. Polar’s tokens expire on the date you set, so note it down: after that the connection stops working and the Verified label is lost until you connect a new token.

LemonSqueezy

Create an API key at app.lemonsqueezy.com/settings/api. The LemonSqueezy documentation we read says API keys can be created in live and test modes, that you should use a live-mode key in production, and that generated keys are valid for a year (LemonSqueezy: Requests). We could not find any LemonSqueezy documentation describing a read-only or scoped API key, so do not assume one exists: treat a LemonSqueezy key as having full access to your account, keep it private, and delete it in LemonSqueezy if you stop using ShowMRR.

What can ShowMRR see with that key, and what can it not see?

ShowMRR uses the key to read subscription data and compute totals. Specifically:

• It computes MRR from active subscriptions, normalised to monthly, after discounts. Metered usage prices are skipped.
• It stores the key encrypted, and it stores totals: MRR, customer count and daily history.
• It does not store customer names, customer emails or individual payments. The privacy page has the details.
• With a correctly restricted Stripe key, ShowMRR cannot create charges, issue refunds or change your account, because the key has no Write permission.

What becomes public when I list my startup?

• Startup name, tagline, website and category
• The MRR figure with its label (Verified or Self-reported) and date
• A short MRR history sparkline
• Your founder display name

Your email and password are never public. You can also embed a badge on your own site. It lives at https://showmrr.com/api/startups/<slug>/badge.svg and labels itself “Verified MRR” or “Self-reported MRR” depending on how the figure was obtained. You can see what one looks like with the MRR badge preview, which needs no signup.

How do I revoke access?

• In ShowMRR: disconnect the provider from your startup’s settings.
• At the provider: delete or roll the key. For Stripe, the Dashboard offers Expire key and Rotate key in the key’s overflow menu (Stripe: API keys). Once the key is gone, ShowMRR can no longer read your data.

After access stops, the figure can no longer be refreshed. A Verified label needs a successful sync in the last 72 hours, so the badge is lost once that window passes.

When should I not share revenue publicly?

Sharing is a choice, not a duty. Think twice if:

• Competitors would use it. If you sell into a small market, a visible trend tells rivals how you are doing and when you are struggling.
• You are pre-revenue. A $0 figure helps no one. Wait until there is a number you would be happy to see on a page.
• You are negotiating an acquisition. Public numbers can change what a buyer expects or how they negotiate. Talk to your adviser before publishing anything.
• Your contracts or investors restrict disclosure. Check before you publish.

You can always start with a self-reported figure and connect a provider later. ShowMRR is not financial advice, and it does not audit businesses.

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