The 5-minute setup: connect your first data source

We benchmark one number above almost any other: time to first dashboard. It's the gap between signing up and seeing your own data render into something useful. For most analytics tools that gap is measured in days — schema mapping, warehouse credentials, a call with solutions engineering. Our target is five minutes, and most people beat it. Here's exactly how the first five minutes go.

Minute one: pick a starting template

A blank canvas is intimidating and slow. When you create an account, Klaru asks one question — what kind of business are you running? — and drops you onto a working board built for that shape of company. A subscription business lands on MRR, churn, and net revenue retention. An e-commerce store lands on orders, AOV, and repeat-purchase rate. The tiles are already laid out; they're just waiting for your data.

Minute two to three: connect a source

Click a tile that says 'Connect your payments,' choose your provider, and authorize through the standard OAuth screen you've seen a hundred times. No API keys to copy, no fields to map by hand. Klaru reads the structure of your account and figures out what's a customer, what's a charge, and what's a refund on its own.

• OAuth in two clicks — we never ask you to paste a secret key into a text box.
• Automatic schema detection — customers, charges, subscriptions and refunds are recognized for you.
• Backfill starts immediately — historical data streams in while you keep setting up.
• Read-only by default — Klaru can see your data but can never change it.

Minute four: watch it backfill

The first sync pulls your history so your charts aren't empty on day one. A small business with a year of payment data is usually fully backfilled in under two minutes; larger accounts keep streaming in the background while you work. You'll see tiles fill in live — first the last 30 days, then the full history fanning out behind it.

Minute five: schedule the report and walk away

The last step is the one that pays off forever. Click 'Send a digest,' pick a channel — a Slack room or an email list — and set the cadence. From now on, Klaru writes a plain-language summary of what changed, attaches the charts, and sends it on schedule. You've gone from an empty account to a live dashboard and an automated report in the time it takes to read this article. That's the whole pitch: the setup is short because the maintenance is zero.