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2024 Revenue Per Employee Benchmarks for Private SaaS Companies

A common metric by which SaaS companies track their performance is annual recurring revenue (ARR) per employee. This 2024 update explores the median ARR per employee broken down by company size and funding type, equity-backed or bootstrapped.

2024 Growth Benchmarks for Private SaaS Companies

Based on SaaS Capital's 13th annual B2B SaaS company metrics survey, growth across most revenue brackets (ARR categories) growth has decreased or remained stable from 2022 to 2023. Bootstrapped companies faced a decline in growth rates across all revenue brackets, particularly at higher ARR levels. In contrast, equity-backed companies showed mixed performance, with early-stage firms (those under $1 million ARR) experiencing strong growth, while mid-tier companies saw either modest growth or slight declines.

What Should be Included in COGS for My SaaS Business in 2025?

Surprisingly, GAAP does not clearly define what should be included in a SaaS company’s Cost of Sales (COS; a.k.a. Cost of Revenue, COR, but most commonly known by the traditional term Cost of Goods Sold, COGS) so each company is pretty much left to its own judgment on what should be included. Below is our considered opinion on what to include in COGS for a privately-held SaaS company.

Key Takeaways from SaaStr Annual 2024: Navigating AI's Impact and Opportunities for SaaS Companies

SaaS Capital attended SaaStr Annual 2024. This was the first SaaStr AI Summit and it lived up to its billing – discussions on all things AI dominated the event. As this hot topic continues to be top-of-mind for many operators and investors, we wanted to share some of our key impressions and takeaways from the panels as well as discussions we had with industry participants.

Escaping the Tax Trap - Update September 2024

Essentially, starting in 2022, any amounts spent by a U.S. company on software development were no longer permitted to be deducted against income, but instead had to be capitalized over several years. This “tax trap” meant that many engineering-heavy SaaS companies operating near cash flow breakeven could suddenly appear profitable “on paper” (and on tax returns), leading to an income tax liability.

What Should a SaaS Balance Sheet Look Like? (with Template)

It is important for SaaS finance teams to present a concise and coherent balance sheet so that executives, board members, and existing or potential investors can quickly comprehend the past and current performance of the company. The balance sheet for a SaaS company is less idiosyncratic than the income statement, but there are still several key things to be aware of when building and sharing this financial statement. This post illustrates what we think a SaaS balance sheet should look like.

2024 Spending Benchmarks for Private B2B SaaS Companies

How much do SaaS companies spend on customer support or marketing? In day-to-day SaaS company operations, questions like the above are common. So, we asked survey takers what percentage of revenue is spent on cost of goods sold, customer support/success, selling costs, marketing costs, research & development, and general and administrative. This post summarizes the benchmarking data.

Exploring the Cost of Capital for SaaS Companies - Part IV: Practical Estimates and Actions for the SaaS Cost of Equity

If there’s one thing to take away from this series, it’s this: Use some reasonable method to estimate the “price tag” of the financing dollars you take; “buy” expensive equity dollars for high risk bets when you must; and shop for cheaper debt dollars for predictable performance when you can. Set against that price tag, though, is the suitability in terms of quantum and flexibility; equity is king in this regard, but isn’t always available (and is always more expensive).

Validating Our SaaS Valuation Model: Results from 2024 Market Data

SaaS Capital's valuation model is based on 60 equity transactions from over 11 years of data. Testing the valuation model on 27 anonymized deals from 2024 shows most fell within +/- 1.25x of the predicted ARR multiple.

Comparing Revenue Growth Trends in the Public and Private SaaS Sectors

Median revenue growth rates have been decelerating steadily for public SaaS companies over much of the past decade. SaaS Capital recently completed our annual survey of private, B2B SaaS companies. With the most recent data in hand, we thought it timely to look at revenue growth rates for private SaaS companies and examine whether any of the above trends identified in public companies are also present in the private sphere.