OPEXEngine

DECEMBER 6, 2022

For centuries, “giving the customer what they want” has been a winning strategy. It is not surprising then why usage-based pricing has been a successful pricing strategy for so many firms. By allowing end users to opt in and pay as they consume, companies have found substantial growth can follow. Simply removing the friction and “adoption risk” has been enough for some to surpass their expectations.

Forecasting 40

Forecasting Pricing Revenue Systems Review 40

OPEXEngine

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

Dive Brief: Three out of five financial leaders (62%) expect their financial reporting to come under greater scrutiny during the next year as they brace for the possibility of an economic downturn, according to a study by accounting cloud software provider BlackLine. Having real-time visibility into cash flow is becoming crucial for CFOs and other financial leaders as they try to guide their businesses through a murky business landscape, the study of 737 C-level and 746 finance and accounting

Finance 52

Finance Cloud Software Marketing 52

OPEXEngine

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

“Industry-Centric” SaaS business models offer an alternative SaaS company categorization to the “Customer-Centric” SaaS model, which is defined based on the “go-to-market” strategy used by a management team. Both the Customer-Centric and Industry-Centric classifications provide valuable frameworks for evaluating SaaS companies. The successful SaaS CFO must understand both frameworks to support company decision-making, serve as a strategic business partner to the CEO and best portray the company’

Business Model 52

Business Model Business SaaS Scale 52

OPEXEngine

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

Usually, customer churn rate is every SaaS company’s worst enemy. But in this article, we’re going to show you how to not only deal with churn effectively but also how you can use your customer churn data as a valuable tool to build your business. Voluntary churn vs. involuntary churn: What’s the difference? Before looking at customer retention strategies that can help reduce customer churn , it’s essential to understand the difference between voluntary and involuntary churn.

SaaS Payments 52

SaaS Payments Finance Churn Payment Services 52

OPEXEngine

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

Usually, customer churn rate is every SaaS company’s worst enemy. But in this article, we’re going to show you how to not only deal with churn effectively but also how you can use your customer churn data as a valuable tool to build your business. Voluntary churn vs. involuntary churn: What’s the difference? Before looking at customer retention strategies that can help reduce customer churn , it’s essential to understand the difference between voluntary and involuntary churn.

SaaS Payments 52

SaaS Payments Finance Churn Payment Services 52

OPEXEngine

OCTOBER 25, 2022

Elite software companies are beating the gold standard of performance and pointing the way for others to follow. Even with recent stock market fluctuations, the growth and profitability of leading software companies remain strong by historical standards. When a company’s year-on-year revenue growth rate and its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin add up to 40, a company is balancing growth and profitability well.

Scale 52

Scale Software Cybersecurity Government 52

OPEXEngine

OCTOBER 6, 2022

OPEXEngine, a worldwide leader in SaaS benchmarking, celebrates 1 year anniversary as part of Bain & Company with the release of its “BenchmarkEngine 2023” platform . BOSTON, October 6, 2022 – OPEXEngine, the world’s leading SaaS benchmarking platform, today marks its one-year anniversary as part of Bain & Company. As part of that celebration, it is excited to announce the release of its BenchmarkEngine 2023 platform, featuring significant new capabilities and service offerin

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Development Team Review Benchmarks Headcount 40

OPEXEngine

OCTOBER 4, 2022

It’s no secret that the current uncertain economic climate is taking a toll on our work and personal lives. During times of uncertainty, executive leadership teams make more conservative financial decisions in order to prepare for and/or prevent any major difficulties for the companies that they lead. These decisions and preventative actions have repercussions that engineering leaders and their teams must face.

Engineering 52

Engineering Sales Hiring Technical Review Headcount 52

OPEXEngine

AUGUST 23, 2022

KPIs to drive alignment between R&D spend and corporate business goals. . Our August SaaS conversation focused on high performance in R&D, with OPEXEngine CEO and Founder Lauren Kelley hosting Bain Expert Partner Rob Levy for an energizing discussion on this critical topic. Advances in automation and new engineering techniques are enabling faster development cycles, raising expectations for ROI from the R&D function.

Outsourcing Services 59

Outsourcing Services Technical Review CTO Coach Software Review 59

OPEXEngine

AUGUST 9, 2022

Editor’s note: According to a new Bain brief, there are 3 time-tested principles to navigating changing market conditions, or a recession and using data and analytics to thrive. Data and analytics alone won’t get you there, but by following basic best practices, research shows you have a high chance of succeeding. The three principles to follow are: Aligning resources with market opportunity.

Scale 59

Scale VP of Engineering Payment Services Underperforming Technical Team 59

OPEXEngine

JULY 26, 2022

Even when the market is repricing and falling, key growth metrics remain fundamental targets to maintain or grow company value because they remain highly correlated to higher valuations, even in this market. While valuation multiples in public markets have dropped dramatically over the past 6 months, the Magic Number (of Sales and Marketing Efficiency), Revenue Growth, and Rule of 40 still align well to top quartile multiples. .

Marketing 52

Marketing SaaS Benchmarks Metrics 52

OPEXEngine

JULY 1, 2022

In today’s market, the path to growth for B2B SaaS companies is to continue following the two SaaS lodestars: customer acquisition and customer retention. The companies that successfully navigated through various market disruptions, including the recession in 2008, continued growing by diagnosing whether their acquisition and retention investments were efficient.

Acquisition 59

Acquisition Scale Retention Investment 59

OPEXEngine

JUNE 14, 2022

New solution supports better resource allocation and engineering outcomes across the $300B+ technology R&D sector. BOSTON, June 13, 2022 – OPEXEngine, the world’s leading SaaS benchmarking platform, today launches its new R&D benchmarks solution. The benchmarks help technology executives invest in R&D with more confidence by comparing their own costs and performance with similar organizations.

Technical Review 45

Technical Review Benchmarks Outsourcing Services Technology 45

OPEXEngine

JUNE 2, 2022

2021 was an incredible year of growth and investment for the SaaS industry. Companies achieved all-time high valuation multiples while investors poured massive amounts into SaaS. In the US alone, VC investment in SaaS hit $90 billion in 2021, the highest on record, with over 263 US SaaS VC deals greater than $100 million – 3x the total the previous year and 7x the total in 2015, according to Silicon Valley Bank.

Benchmarks 64

Benchmarks SaaS Banking Trends 64

OPEXEngine

MARCH 15, 2022

In the first 10 years of the SaaS industry, US SaaS companies didn’t need to go overseas to build highly valuable companies. But that dynamic has changed in lockstep with the growth of the SaaS market. Gartner forecasted that global spending on SaaS applications is easily going to exceed $1Trillion by the end of the decade—if not sooner – and expanding SaaS markets around the world is a big part of that growth.

Payment Services 40

Payment Services SaaS Payments Merchant Services Payments 40

OPEXEngine

MARCH 22, 2022

State of the Market. Private equity blew the doors off in 2021 as trillions in pandemic-related stimulus produced a historic surge in dealmaking and exits. Non-buyout private investing categories like growth equity and venture also saw huge increases in activity. . Source: Bain & Company’s Global Private Equity Report 2022. Growth Equity. Capital is flooding into growth equity and venture capital funds as investors seek exposure to technological change.

Software 52

Software Venture Capital Technology Investment 52

OPEXEngine

APRIL 5, 2022

One of the best things about the software industry is its unwavering belief that there is always a better way. No mousetrap that can’t be built better. This creates intoxicating energy that flows through the industry’s consciousness. I am sure it is what attracted me to the industry a couple of decades ago and has kept me motivated over the years. But with intoxication can come blind spots.

Development Team Review 52

Development Team Review Software Review Systems Review Underperforming Technical Team 52

OPEXEngine

APRIL 12, 2022

The other day a founder asked me about interviewing because a candidate had described me as “a great interviewer,” and she wanted to know why. (And for that matter, so did I.). Emboldened by this seeming endorsement, I dashed off what turned into a lengthy email on interviewing and recruiting, a topic about which I am passionate not because I think I am good at it but because I think I am not.

Sales Recruiting 40

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Interviewing Finance 40

OPEXEngine

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

Like the benchmarking of any key metric, you will drive operational efficiency and better use of your resources, when you see the variance between your company and your peers at the same stage and with a similar business model. You can then also compare your current metrics against the benchmarks for companies that have already achieved your future goals in order to plot out how to get to your goals.

Scale 52

Scale Benchmarks Marketing Sales 52

OPEXEngine

MAY 10, 2022

Will there be a recession? Will private SaaS valuations be affected by the drops in the stock market? Will fundraising be tougher for all tech companies, or just certain types of companies? These are questions that we have been hearing from SaaS CFOs across the spectrum. . When companies finalized their 2022 budget plans in late 2021, the stock market was coming off all-time highs, Covid appeared to be receding and Russia had not yet invaded Ukraine.

Technical Review 59

Technical Review Systems Review Benchmarks Investment 59

OPEXEngine

MAY 3, 2022

The Remaining Performance Obligation (RPO) reporting requirement arose from the adoption of ASC 606. This SaaS metric is defined as the sum of Deferred Revenue and Backlog. Deferred Revenue for SaaS companies is the contractual obligation to deliver the SaaS product for the period invoiced. The term Backlog refers to future contractual obligations (not to be confused with a backlog of unsigned opportunities).

Deferred Revenue 59

Deferred Revenue Metrics SaaS Payments Payment Features 59

OPEXEngine

APRIL 26, 2022

It’s no secret that acquiring new customers is expensive. In fact, according to several sources, it can cost up to 7x or more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an existing one. So why even bother? Well, capturing as much total available market (TAM) makes growing your business through customer acquisition necessary. If your TAM is large, and especially in a competitive sector, continually adding new customers is critical. .

Acquisition 59

Acquisition B2B Benchmarks SaaS 59

OPEXEngine

MARCH 9, 2022

R&D is the backbone of any SaaS company, yet to many CFOs, it is still a black box. Most companies track R&D as a % of revenue, and maybe a few metrics about activity, but few CFOs can answer the question of what’s the ROI on their R&D investment. Perhaps even more importantly, what are the levers for improving R&D ROI? How can Finance and Engineering management work together to diagnose weak areas, and shift R&D resources to produce better outcomes for the company?

Software Review 59

Software Review Development Team Review Technical Review Outsourced Development 59

OPEXEngine

MARCH 8, 2022

Over the last three years, start-ups have raised funding every 15 months. As your SaaS company grows in complexity and expectations, you reach a point where manual processes waste time away from analysis, and you struggle to collect and act on your growing range of financial and operating data. At this point, you need to build a FinOps Tech Stack that scales and informs the path to IPO.

Payment Features 52

Payment Features Subscription Startup Scale 52

OPEXEngine

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

There are many ways to classify SaaS companies, but differentiating companies based upon who their customers are presents the best approach for measuring performance and driving success for SaaS businesses. This is because using a customer-centric definition highlights the key operational differences that drive strategic decision-making at these businesses as well as influencing the relevant performance indicators for them.

SaaS Payments 52

SaaS Payments Payment Services Payment Methods Marketplace as a Service 52

OPEXEngine

FEBRUARY 15, 2022

Paired with gross margin (GM), cost of goods (COGs) tells investors in a single glance about the profitability of revenues, SaaS business model purity, and company efficiency. However—against the backdrop of ever-changing reporting guidance and a myriad of morphing elements in recent years—easily distinguishing COGs from OPEX is anything but seamless or intuitive today.

Benchmarks 52

Benchmarks Artificial Intelligence Systems Review Cloud 52

OPEXEngine

FEBRUARY 8, 2022

On January 24 th , Nikki Turner joined the OPEXEngine team as Strategic Finance Consultant. In her new role, she will partner with tech finance executives to evaluate their operational and financial performance against their respective cohorts, while assisting them in implementing various usage models that leverage proprietary OPEXEngine benchmark data.

Benchmarks 52

Benchmarks Finance Consulting Engineering 52

OPEXEngine

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

When it comes to IPOs, 2021 was an excellent year for SaaS companies. Accelerated digital transformation across industries put SaaS companies firmly on the hypergrowth path. Compared to 2020, the number of SaaS enterprises that IPOed in 2021 has surged by a whopping 121% , and there is little doubt why Saas companies are getting so much investor interest.

SaaS Payments 52

SaaS Payments Payment Services Payment Solutions SaaS 52

OPEXEngine

JANUARY 25, 2022

With 331 SPAC deals enthusiastically closed in 2021, and the collective pool now trading on average 42% below purchase price— we are living in a far different landscape of capitalization opportunities than we were this time last year. Add to that a massive correction in the stock market from 2021 highs, inflation, Covid, and the looming threat of rising interest rates further affecting market liquidity, and we may well be on another planet.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Cybersecurity Forecasting Finance 52

OPEXEngine

JANUARY 18, 2022

CFOs at Broadridge, DocuSign, and Trivago have relied on their diverse professional experiences to lead during the pandemic-related uncertainty of the past few years. They spoke about their priorities during a recent Fortune virtual event. Challenges wrought by the pandemic haven’t come with easy or obvious solutions—other than a measure of agility to adapt to new situations.

SaaS Payments 52

SaaS Payments Scale Strategy Payment Services 52

OPEXEngine

JANUARY 11, 2022

Consumption-based pricing is best used when you can accurately and easily break down your service offering into small, digestible units. Many companies in the technology industry are moving toward “pay for what you use” consumption-based pricing models. The trend has been bolstered by several customer benefits — primarily, the model provides a clear linkage between what a customer pays and what they use or value they realize.

Pricing 52

Pricing Payment Solutions Outsourced Development Compensation 52

OPEXEngine

JANUARY 4, 2022

Consumption pricing –a licensing model where software is sold based on use (actual traffic, transactions, etc.) rather than a fixed fee–is making the headlines these days. “Subscription-based pricing is dead: Smart SaaS companies are shifting to usage-based models” headlined a recent TechCrunch article. “How Usage-Based Pricing Fueled Two 2020 IPOs” led one from Insight Partners.

Pricing 52

Pricing New CTO CTO Metrics 52

OPEXEngine

DECEMBER 28, 2021

Business leaders will often see their strategies fail, regardless of how much thought they put into it. Not every effort pays off, and not every investment is worthwhile. It’s easy to believe that the worst thing that could happen in these cases is to waste money. Yet, that would be wrong. There’s probably nothing worse than not understanding where you made a mistake because that prevents you from correcting it.

SaaS 40

SaaS Scale Underperforming Technical Team Interviewing 40

OPEXEngine

DECEMBER 21, 2021

Since 2016, public software has witnessed four corrections. Today, we’re in the midst of the fifth. Also, 2014 to 2016 saw a 57% reduction in multiples and of course after 2008. But let’s look at the most recent five years. This chart shows the median and the 75th percentile of enterprise value/forward revenue multiple for the basket of public stocks which were public at that moment in time.

SaaS 52

SaaS Cloud Enterprise Software 52

OPEXEngine

DECEMBER 14, 2021

Increasing competition, rising deal prices, and a diverse start-up landscape are compelling corporate investors to pinpoint their differentiators. Technology is reshaping the economy, and it starts with venture capital. Technology was a driving force behind the boom in venture investments over the past decade. From 2010 through 2020, tech start-ups made up a majority of venture funding across all deals by independent venture capital (VC) firms and corporate venture capitalists, according to Bain

Technology 40

Technology Venture Capital Artificial Intelligence SaaS Payments 40

OPEXEngine

DECEMBER 14, 2021

Increasing competition, rising deal prices, and a diverse start-up landscape are compelling corporate investors to pinpoint their differentiators. Technology is reshaping the economy, and it starts with venture capital. Technology was a driving force behind the boom in venture investments over the past decade. From 2010 through 2020, tech start-ups made up a majority of venture funding across all deals by independent venture capital (VC) firms and corporate venture capitalists, according to Bain

Technology 40

Technology Venture Capital Artificial Intelligence SaaS Payments 40

OPEXEngine

DECEMBER 7, 2021

Dive Brief: Usage-based pricing has grown 32% this year and now 45% of software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies use it all or in part, up from 34%, an OpenView survey shows. The pricing model, which leads to increases or decreases in revenue based on how much customers engage with a service, has been gaining on the more traditional subscription model as the main way SaaS companies make money.

Payment Features 52

Payment Features Subscription Pricing Venture Capital 52