July 2026 closed at $57,884 in revenue, across 166 sales. Last July we did $19,533 across 113 sales, so revenue is nearly three times what it was on about 47% more sales. It is also the biggest month since this challenge started, past April's $56,654.
I could stop there and it would read as a breakthrough. It is not one, and I would rather take the number apart myself than have someone else do it later.
Three reasons I am calling it a lump.
- The comparison flatters me. Last July was the weakest month of that entire year, $19,533 against an average month of around $43,000. Tripling the worst month of last year is a real number. It is not a real trend.
- It is renewal timing. Annual renewals came to $31,463 this July against $11,465 last July. That is twenty thousand dollars of the increase on its own. It is the same force that made May look like a disaster, running the other way. May was light on renewals and looked terrible. July was heavy and looks great. This is exactly why the challenge is measured on a trailing 12-month basis.
- It is concentrated. One single transaction was $15,063, which is 26% of the whole month in one line. The top five transactions were 53% of it. One app, Custom Fields for Jira, was just over half the month's revenue by itself.
The best month of the challenge, and most of it arrived because of when contracts happen to renew rather than anything I did in July.
What worked.
That $15,063 line was an existing customer moving up. An upgrade, not a new customer. Upgrades across July came to $20,008 against $2,747 last July.
That is the pricing and expansion lever, the one I said in Month 01 is the fastest in the whole plan. It works on customers we already have, so nobody had to find us, trial us or be sold to. I am not claiming credit for it. We did not run a campaign that produced that upgrade. The customer grew and their licence grew with them. But it shows where the money is easiest to get, and it is why the advanced Document Vault tier matters so much to me.
What did not.
New business went backwards. New sales were $1,152 in July against $1,809 last July, off five transactions all month, and only one of those was worth anything real.
So July was renewals, upgrades and customers we already had. It was not new customers finding us. Nearly three times the revenue, and the top of the funnel was quieter than a year ago. That is a retention and expansion month, not a growth month, and the two are not the same thing. Refunds were also $4,407 against $15 last July, so the month is a little smaller than it first looks.
Nothing happened on the partner channel, and nothing happened on direct outreach to the compliance and security people who hold the budget. Two of the six levers, untouched for another month.
The number that actually measures the 10x.
The monthly figure is the drama. The trailing 12 months is the truth. After June it was $528,007, then $524,443. After July it is $562,794, which moves us from about 10.1% of the $5.19M target to about 10.8%. That is the highest it has been since the challenge started, past April's $547,314.
Four months in and roughly a tenth of the way there. That is fine. It is not ahead.
One warning while I am being straight about it. August last year was $60,908, the strongest month of that year. The easy comparison I got in July flips completely next month. If August's year-on-year number looks bad, that is why, and I would rather say it now than explain it afterwards.
What shipped.
Nothing. The advanced Document Vault for Jira tier is still in testing. Secure Admin for Jira Cloud went into testing on 28 July and is still there. Testing keeps finding things, which is the entire point of having it.
Against the four things I committed to for July:
- Ship the advanced Document Vault tier. Not shipped. It carries into August.
- Get Secure Admin Cloud into testing. Done, on 28 July.
- Start marketing QR Studio. Not started. It is waiting on an app update that is built and sitting in the same testing queue.
- Work out why June brought in more customers for less money. Done. Mostly a hosting story, Cloud up and Data Center down.
Underneath that, our new developer is into his third week on security changes and bug fixes for Comment History for Jira, and one of our testers is still looking into SOC 2. Looking into it, with no certification announced and no date. It comes out of the same testing hours as everything else, so it slows the queue.
What is next.
- Release the advanced Document Vault for Jira tier.
- Release Secure Admin for Jira Cloud.
- Start prototyping two new Jira apps.
That last one is lever one, more apps, the biggest lever in the plan and the one I have done least about.
Best month of the challenge, and most of it came down to timing rather than anything I did. Both of those things are true and you get both. Either I pull this off or I don't. I will see you next month.