Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

The chart above shows the subscription revenue is roughly at $150 million and professional services revenue is about $35 million this year. In 2015, Mulesoft grew 91% and in 2016 the business grew 71%. in 2015 and a estimated sales efficiency of 0.63, which implies a payback period of 19 months, right on the average.

Metrics 100

Metrics Benchmarks Scale Finance 100

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

I looked at the period of 2015 - 2020 (right up until Covid, so excluding the Covid bubble) and picked out all of the cloud software companies that at one point in time were trading at >10x NTM revenue. Overall, out of my set of 96 cloud software companies, there were 49 that at one point traded >10x NTM from 2015 - 2020.

Cloud 130

Cloud Pricing Investment Revenue 130

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 27, 2020

?. The subscription model has revolutionized virtually every industry. Success in the subscription economy isn’t about having the best product; it’s about having the strongest customer relationships. From legacy business to subscription service. To navigate the current minefield of growth, businesses need to shift their focus.

Scale 211

Scale Payments Subscription Payment Features 211

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 30, 2022

The below chart shows the difference in the top quartile multiple vs bottom quartile multiple going back to 2015 (ie how much bigger the top quartile multiple is than bottom quartile). Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against.

Cloud 130

Cloud Subscription Payment Features Pricing 130

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

So if you’re not valued like a growth stock you get valued more like a value stock - and the valuation metrics there look more like FCF or PE multiples. But this median is close to as low as it’s gotten since 2015. I created this subset to show companies where FCF is a relevant valuation metric.

Software Review 161

Software Review Cloud Software Azure 161

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

The chart below shows the median NTM FCF margins of the software index going back to 2015. This is the set of companies who actually trade on FCF, or for who FCF is a relevant metric. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against.

Software Review 183

Software Review Cloud Software Revenue 183

SaaStr

APRIL 28, 2019

You can see our fun video with Stewart Butterfield from SaaStr Annual 2015 where he said they’d never have a direct sales force. In fact, it has pretty similar metrics and sales cycles to other SaaS leaders here. Slack notes this is now the primary value of self-service (lead generation vs. direct conversion). Way Enterprise.

Scale 275

Scale Venture Capital SMB Enterprise 275

FastSpring

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

Changelog posts from 2015-2020 are available on the archived post located at the bottom of the changelog posts displayed. Maintenance of secure payment processing systems. For subscription management, you can find out more information from Visa and Mastercard on payment reminders. Continual monitoring.

Payment Methods 78

Payment Methods Customer Support Merchant Services Payments 78

Chart Mogul

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Today we're launching an email course enabling anyone in SaaS to get to a baseline level of knowledge on metrics, no matter their level of experience. We’ve been writing on the topic of data-driven SaaS growth since 2015. Here’s what you can look forward to in the coming weeks: Why SaaS Metrics? Course outline.

Metrics 45

Metrics SaaS Churn Revenue 45

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 25, 2023

The R^2 of the median software multiple and 10Y rate going back to 2015 is 0.35. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against. Companies that do not disclose subscription rev have been left out of the analysis and are listed as NA.

Cloud 130

Cloud Government Banking Payment Services 130

Frontegg

MAY 27, 2021

User-centric behavior data is a MUST: You are getting access to user-centric behavior metrics to scale up fast – your user journey can be optimized by the people who matter most – your clients. Instead you should focus on Natural Rate of Growth (NRG) to determine the percentage of recurring organic revenue. 6 ChargeBee.

Payment Solutions 98

Payment Solutions SaaS Payments Payments Scale 98

Upscope

JANUARY 10, 2019

SaaS metrics like LTV to CAC ratios are simpler to understand when you see real examples and why they're important. Below we breakdown the metrics of one company and show you metrics for a number of others. Buffer's metrics Captured on 5th April 2016 via former co-founder of Buffer , Leo Widrich. A 3:1 ratio is ideal.

Metrics 40

Metrics SaaS Underperforming Technical Team Churn 40

The Angel VC

APRIL 10, 2013

[Update 12/20/2013: I have extended the dashboard to include multiple pricing tiers and annual subscription plans. Update 01/17/2015: There's a new company called ChartMogul ( which we invested in ) which makes it easy to get a real-time dashboard similar to the template below. Check it out here.] Check it out!

Startup 239

Startup SaaS Subscription Payment Features 239

OPEXEngine

SEPTEMBER 22, 2020

Net dollar retention is the most important metric in SaaS. As their prospectus states: “We use dollar-based net retention rate to evaluate the long-term value of our customer relationships, because we believe this metric reflects our ability to retain and expand subscription revenue generated from our existing customers.

Retention 59

Retention SMB Social Media Subscription 59

Chart Mogul

NOVEMBER 16, 2021

Thanks to the recent upgrade to API access management , we can now offer universal access to all ChartMogul users via a secure QR login. Anyone with a ChartMogul account can create a read-only API key, scan the QR code and get access to the metrics of the organizations they are part of. Share your charts. For the love of startups! ??

Social Media 52

Social Media Metrics Subscription Payment Features 52

Chart Mogul

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

To date ChartMogul has primarily been about metrics; MRR, Churn rate, etc. We also added cash flow charts back in 2015, but these only show how much money has been received from customers in any given period. We use a mix of Stripe, Braintree and Recurly for credit card billing, and also do some manual invoicing for larger customers.

Payments 49

Payments Revenue Payment Services Payment Features 49

OPEXEngine

JUNE 23, 2021

The CAC Payback Period, also known as Months to Recover Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), measures the number of months of subscription revenue it takes to recover the costs to acquire one customer. This metric is one of the many ways to look at the capital efficiency and profitability of a SaaS business.

Benchmarks 52

Benchmarks Acquisition SMB Subscription 52

OPEXEngine

JUNE 25, 2020

However, the ripple effects from the rest of the economy have slowed growth for most companies and makes cash flow an even more important metric to stress test whether a company can manage thru the current changing environment. Median net cash from operations had been reduced 5X times since 2015 for smaller SaaS companies.

Benchmarks 52

Benchmarks SaaS Airlines Travel 52

OPEXEngine

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

According to Gartner , the SaaS industry has grown from $35 billion in 2015 to $145 billion in 2021. As your business expands across geographies and market segments, you must also contend with multiple pricing models and handle subscription accounting and revenue recognition complexities as SaaS finance leaders.

SaaS Payments 52

SaaS Payments Payment Services Payment Solutions SaaS 52

Chart Mogul

OCTOBER 1, 2019

Our founder Nick shares his reflections (and a few vanity metrics) on the last 5 years. Also rewarding, because we get to serve thousands of the best subscription businesses from all over the world who are all doing incredible things, and hopefully make a positive difference to their daily lives and their success! The future.

Travel 52

Travel Software Review Subscription Payment Features 52

SaaStr

OCTOBER 14, 2021

It was exciting at YC 2015 Demo Day. 90% of GitLab’s customers pay by subscription — but most still self-manage the deployment. This is an interesting segmentation of core metrics. While GitLab has 15,356 customers as of July 2021, it focuses its metrics on its 3,600+ ones with an ACV of $5k or more.

Outsourced Development 58

Outsourced Development Software Development Innovation Pricing 58

The Angel VC

NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Depending on the stage that you’re in you’ll want to focus on different metrics. The key message of the chart is that in the beginning you can focus on a small set of metrics, but as time goes by and you’re making progress you need to add additional KPIs to your cockpit. Firstly there just aren’t many metrics to keep an eye on yet.

Scale 190

Scale Startup SaaS Customer Lifetime Value 190

Chart Mogul

DECEMBER 19, 2017

In March we were proud to share the story of ghost — specifically how the non-profit publishing platform is using ChartMogul to publicly share its metrics and growth: “When just getting started, with limited money in the bank and not yet profitable, metrics were everything. ChartMogul Retrospective: A look back on 2015.

Payments 58

Payments SaaS Payments Payment Solutions Scale 58

Natalia Luneva

DECEMBER 17, 2020

Patrick Campbell is the CEO of ProfitWell (formerly Price Intelligently), the software for helping subscription companies with their monetization and retention strategies. ProfitWell also provides free turnkey subscription financial metrics for over twenty thousand companies. Get your value metric right.

Pricing 80

Pricing Strategy SaaS Software Review 80

ProfitWell

JANUARY 6, 2020

His startup, founded in 2015, strives to be the fastest email experience in the world. Vohra set up shop for Superhuman in 2015. Repeat the process and make the product-market fit score the most important metric. The metrics to track product-market fit. Average subscription length. Is your churn rate SUPER high?

Product Marketing 52

Product Marketing Underperforming Technical Team Marketing Advertising 52

Baremetrics

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

We are going to walk you through a couple of the most popular pricing models—perpetual license and annual license, along with its variant subscription model —as well as mention a couple of the other popular ways to monetize software. Payment ii. Using Baremetrics to monitor subscription revenue. Table of Contents.

Payment Features 95

Payment Features Payments Payment Solutions Subscription 95

ProfitWell

NOVEMBER 1, 2019

Keeping your customers as long as possible is the key to running a sustainable subscription business. It’s a mess—not just because every team has different incentives, but also because none of these metrics focuses on retaining customers. “It Know your metrics and choose the right tools. Twice as valuable , to be precise.

Retention 56

Retention Strategy Underperforming Technical Team SaaS 56

Kellblog

MAY 21, 2019

In 2012, the explanatory power of both metrics doubled. In 2015 and 2016 the Rule of 40 explained nearly 20% more than revenue growth alone. 2] If calculated using subscription revenue growth, it’s 137% + -26% = 111%, even more amazing. In 2017 and 2018, however, that’s dropped to 7 to 8%.

compliance 74

compliance Startup Software Trends 74

Chart Mogul

DECEMBER 21, 2018

Apple’s big push to encourage iOS app developers to embrace the subscription business model saw momentum in 2018 , with app categories such as e-learning, media streaming, and fitness and lifestyle leading the way. ChartMogul Retrospective: A look back on 2015. May – June. Guess which course this illustrates?

Subscription 40

Subscription Payment Features Business Model Branding 40

Intercom, Inc.

JANUARY 16, 2020

“We decided to switch to a team based subscription model which became a huge driver for our growth back in the day. Now we see that this has become a huge trend across SaaS” Andrey: One of the biggest examples of this for us was moving from personal subscription to a team subscription. This was back in about 2015.

Consulting 249

Consulting Marketplace as a Service Scale Development 249

OpenView Labs

JANUARY 29, 2020

This guide, by LinkedIn’s Head of Global Monetization Strategy Josh Gold, is intended to teach subscription-based businesses how to evaluate whether the freemium model will drive revenue and lead gen for their business or result in failure. Key Metrics to Track for Converting Freemium to Paid. Freemium benchmarks.

Pricing 82

Pricing Payments SaaS Payments Payment Solutions 82

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 28, 2019

Felix : And then kind of as we raised our series B round where we said, okay, let’s try to build a really good and successful company, that’s when we shifted to a hundred percent subscription. It can order subscription. But again, at the time SaaS wasn’t, subscription wasn’t the norm at all.

Sales Hiring 177

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Government 177

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 8, 2019

Lane has such an interesting story: she joined Slack as the 50th employee back in 2015, when the support team was just eight people. And at the risk of falling into a metrics rabbit hole, how does your team think about measuring success of the help center? So we look at those metrics as well. How many people are viewing?

Scale 168

Scale Scaling Engineering Branding 168

Chart Mogul

MARCH 6, 2018

Spotify's recent F-1 filing is packed full of metrics and insights into both consumer subscriptions and the streaming music industry. Spotify’s filing gives us a rare look into the metrics of a large-scale consumer subscription business. in 2015 to €5.32 ARPA is the lifeblood of any subscription business.

Payments 75

Payments Metrics EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) SaaS Payments 75

Chart Mogul

OCTOBER 1, 2019

Our founder Nick shares his reflections (and a few vanity metrics) on the last 5 years. Also rewarding, because we get to serve thousands of the best subscription businesses from all over the world who are all doing incredible things, and hopefully make a positive difference to their daily lives and their success! The future.

Travel 15

Travel Software Review Subscription Payment Features 15

Sales Hacker

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

According to Crunchbase data, 95,000+ companies have received funding (globally) from 2015-present, totaling $1.3+ While there are various metrics and KPIs they will be tracking, there’s one underlying theme — growth. “ Lyft is one of many companies that began as a small startup but quickly rose to a multibillion-dollar company.

Outsourcing Services 77

Outsourcing Services Scale Startup Outsourced Development 77

User Pilot

JANUARY 12, 2024

In this example, the bar chart compares the number of standard, free, and enterprise invoices created over the last 7 days. A horizontal bar chart comparing invoice creations on Userpilot. Tracking campaign performance metrics such as clicks, conversions, and impressions to visualize their impact on investments.

Data 105

Data Scale Payment Features Trends 105