SaaStr

MAY 23, 2025

And more importantly, revenue and user growth that is accelerating at scale. million seed round led by SaaStr Fund , they were already live with 100 apps and had crossed $1 million in tracked revenue. A huge congrats to @RevenueCat to adding $50m at a big valuation increase to its Series C! By the time they raised their $1.5

Payments 274

Payments Payment Solutions Underperforming Technical Team Payment Methods 274

SaaStr

OCTOBER 16, 2024

Even With a Big Enterprise Push for Years, 60% of Revenue Still From Mid-Market and SMB RingCentral closed 20 $1M+ TCV deals last quarter. of revenue in 2021 to 15.7% 16,000 Channel Partners A very large percent of RingCentral’s revenue comes from the channel. Fast forward to today, it’s at: $2.43

Scale 278

Scale SMB Compensation Cloud 278

SaaStr

OCTOBER 12, 2024

Revenues Multiples Are Down Even the best public SaaS companies are worth ~10x revenue today. In 2021, they were often worth 40x revenue. And it also makes it harder to meet the “ask” of a startup that might want a much higher revenue multiple. In tech at least, there are two big issues: #1.

Acquisition 271

Acquisition Technical Review Revenue Startup 271

SaaStr

JULY 4, 2025

The Numbers Tell the Story: Monday.com Q1 2025 : 30% growth, $282M revenue Asana 2024 : Single-digit growth, struggling with churn Mostly Same Product Category, Mostly Different Customers Both companies build “work management” software. The “productivity software” that seemed essential in 2021 is now getting cut.

Merchant Services 307

Merchant Services SaaS Payments Payment Services Payments 307

SaaStr

OCTOBER 12, 2021

new customer CAC, per KeyBanc 2021 Private SaaS Company Survey ). Net revenue retention rate is very predictive of your overall valuation (per Gainsight + Bessemer Venture Partners ). . Unsurprisingly, sessions focused on SaaS customer success were once again very popular at SaaStr Annual 2021. . upsell + expansion CAC vs $1.67

VP of Engineering 363

VP of Engineering Customer Success Engineering Retention 363

SaaStr

JUNE 28, 2025

But here are some general guidelines: ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) : Most SaaS companies raising a Series A are doing between $1M and $2.5M If you’re selling to mid-market or enterprise, negative churn (expansion revenue outpacing churn) is a strong signal. In 2021, all of SaaS was sort of hot, as long as the growth was strong.

Benchmarks 252

Benchmarks Scale Generative AI Churn 252

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 1, 2024

Subscribe now Shades of 2021 in Venture Markets Private markets are really starting to heat up, and I’m starting to see shades of 2021. ” I heard that a lot in 2021, and unfortunately not many call options hit… It’s hard to invest at 100x ARR and exit at 10x and make a return VCs aim for.

Cloud 317

Cloud AI Investment Metrics 317

SaaStr

JANUARY 15, 2025

So Cloud and SaaS have had a bit of a rollercoaster the past 4 years, from the boom times of 2020-2021, to the tougher times overall of 2023, to the AI boom of 2024+. Top-tier growth, cash-flow positive, and very durable revenue. Wall Street wants revenue that is durable. Wall Street wants revenue that is durable.

Scaling 268

Scaling Cloud AI Engineering 268

SaaStr

JULY 6, 2025

Beyond the obvious metrics of explosive revenue growth (48% YoY at almost $1B ARR!!) The 2021 and 2022 cohorts maintain 31% and 22% CAGRs respectively, showing sustainable expansion patterns across multiple vintage years. Here are the hidden gems: 1.

Software Review 250

Software Review Scale Systems Review Enterprise 250

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

Meet Wyatt Jenkins: From Construction Sites to Chief Product Officer If you want to understand how vertical SaaS companies scale to $1B+ in revenue while staying true to their customers, there’s no better person to learn from than Wyatt Jenkins, Chief Product Officer at Procore Technologies.

Construction 248

Construction Scale SaaS Travel 248

SaaStr

JUNE 29, 2025

After going public in September 2020 with 47% annual growth, the company hit peak quarterly growth of 49% in early 2021. commercial revenue grew 71% YoY in Q1 2025 They crossed a $1 billion annual run rate in U.S. Customer Economics : Average revenue per customer has grown from $5.6M Then came the long slide down.

AI 254

AI Artificial Intelligence Software Review Technical Review 254

SaaStr

JUNE 22, 2025

The survey reveals we’re returning to “pre-pandemic levels”, we’re normalizing after the artificial highs of 2021-2022. The takeaway: Stop chasing the unsustainable growth rates of 2021-2022. But here’s what most people are missing: This isn’t necessarily bad news.

B2B 207

B2B Data Scale Startup 207

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 4, 2021

.” Fortunately, the always excellent KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM) 2021 SaaS Survey – which covers over 350 private SaaS companies across various stages and categories – provides a very rich data set to work from. In equation form, Revenue Growth % + Profit Margin % > 40%.

SaaS 311

SaaS Technical Review Benchmarks Azure 311

SaaStr

APRIL 24, 2021

So many startups these days are claiming they have “ARR” from revenue that … doesn’t recur. Doesn’t ARR stand for Annual Recurring Revenue? ARR now really means revenue with 100%+ Net Revenue Retention. 50% revenue from software (recurring), 50% from payments (not-recurring). .

Merchant Services 360

Merchant Services SaaS Payments Payment Solutions Payment Services 360

SaaStr

JUNE 28, 2025

But a very different one from the 2021 wave: Deal volume is surging : 2025 has been a “green light” year for IPOs, with 52 new U.S. 21 billion 2021 valuation, $1.6B+ revenue Navan (formerly TripActions) – Corporate travel and expense management, confidentially filed June 2025. IPOs priced so far—up 62.5%

Payments 176

Payments SaaS Payments Payment Services AI 176

SaaStr

JUNE 11, 2025

Billion Revenue Run Rate Growing a stunning 60% $16 Billion valuation, so about 8x revenue We're back to IPOs seeming normal again That's quietly a big deal And a good thing [link] — Jason ✨👾SaaStr.Ai✨ The “Interest Rate Risk” Learning: When 99% of Your Revenue Depends on One Variable Circle generated $1.7B

compliance 240

compliance Marketplace as a Service B2B Healthcare 240

SaaStr

JANUARY 15, 2021

25% of revenue from professional services may sound high, but it’s a fairly standard ratio in true enterprise software. — Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) January 15, 2021. And isn’t services revenue a friction-full waste of time anyway? And you’ll get the same SaaS ARR multiple on those extra services revenues.

Revenue 343

Revenue Pricing Enterprise SaaS 343

SaaStr

JANUARY 7, 2022

Vast amounts of money went into VC in 2021, far more than ever, but: 1/ It’s mostly at the growth stage ; and. So net net: Global VC investment doubled in 2021 from 2020, from $335B to $643B; and. Dollars into venture doubled in 2021, and along with it, the rate of unicorn production, topping 1,000 total unicorns.

Investment 317

Investment Startup Revenue SaaS 317

SaaStr

MAY 1, 2025

Clari found across 10 million sales opportunities: The Top 2% of reps close 37% of all revenue The Top 10% close 65% The Entire “Bottom 98%” close just 63% The Bottom 50% close just 7.6% So yes, in the Boom Times of 2021, it really did seem like anyone could close. All the rest still close 35% of your revenue.

Scale 184

Scale Revenue B2B Investment 184

SaaStr

OCTOBER 14, 2022

Q: Dear SaaStr: How Do VCs Verify a Startup’s Revenue? If they do, the financials and revenue are likely at least 90% accurate, which is good enough for seed stage. At least, they did outside of the crazy times of late 2020 and 2021. They also often recognize revenue too early. Fraud is always possible.

Revenue 304

Revenue Banking Startup 304

SaaStr

MAY 28, 2025

Both big revenues, but somewhat smaller than the last group of Rubrik + Klaviyo that were bigger. These tend to have high switching costs and very durable recurring revenue models. Hinge Health uses software to help patients treat acute musculoskeletal injuries , chronic pain and carry out post-surgery rehabilitation remotel.

Technical Review 188

Technical Review Software Review Cybersecurity Advertising 188

SaaStr

OCTOBER 23, 2024

in revenue. Then, in 2017, with around $50M in revenue, BILL added payment capabilities. When René’s dad had a payroll company, the rule of thumb was always one year’s worth of revenue, four quarters, because a customer lasted a year. Are We In a Downturn? There was an inflection point for BILL around 10k customers.

SMB 300

SMB Payment Services Payments Payment Methods 300

SaaStr

APRIL 12, 2022

The majority of its revenue is now from Bitcoin transactions, not “traditional” payments and software. And while growth has slowed a bit, its net revenues are still growing an impressive 29% at a $16 Billion run-rate. Only 9% of Square’s revenue is international, but going up. So is Square a SaaS company?

Payments 294

Payments SaaS Payments Payment Services Revenue 294

SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2025

The last IPO of the 2020-2021 era was HashiCorp in December 2021. 4 Unexpected Learnings from Dave’s Scaling Journey The $30M Revenue Threshold : Companies that can reach $30M in revenue have typically found sufficient product-market fit to scale to $100M. And it’s one of the first to be acquired!

Scale 176

Scale Systems Review Scaling Leadership 176

SaaStr

JUNE 9, 2025

The market is once again rewarding recurring revenue models and predictable growth patterns. Focus on the fundamentals that make companies IPO-ready: predictable revenue growth, expanding margins, and clear path to profitability. Companies with real revenue, real growth, and real paths to profitability are getting rewarded.

B2B 177

B2B Marketing Scale Benchmarks 177

SaaStr

APRIL 9, 2022

With that, Women in Revenue had a great recent 2022 Annual Report you should download here on how things have, and haven’t, changed in the workplace since Covid, The Great Resignation, and more. And one-quarter of women in professional services and revenue operations roles listed sexual harassment as one of their top three challenges.

Revenue 294

Revenue Sales Hiring Compensation Startup 294

SaaStr

JUNE 30, 2025

When Sam Altman talks about OpenAI’s path to $125B in revenue by 2029, most folks focus on the AI magic. But the real story is simpler and more profound: OpenAI cracked the code on parallel scaling of funding and revenue in a way no other company in history has achieved. revenue, ~$13B total funding 2024: $3.7B

AI 169

AI ChatGPT B2B Generative AI 169

SaaStr

MAY 19, 2025

When I talk to founders who launched in 2020 or 2021, I hear the same anxiety: “Are we already legacy?” Folks that can only work at the 2021 pace with the 2021 playbook may … need to find a new home. VCs especially are obsessed with AI-native startups. The market has fundamentally shifted. A skunkworks team?

AI Search 176

AI Search AI ChatGPT Innovation 176

SaaStr

JUNE 4, 2025

The metrics are very strong: $2B ARR (run rate — but not really software revenue) Generated from $121B in transactions on platform Growing 23% $251 ARPU 88% Gross Margins Average customer uses 3.3 But if it lands around $9 Billion, that’s less than 5x revenues. 10B: Key to that high revenue retention is being multi-product.

Outsourcing Services 197

Outsourcing Services Scale Banking Customer Lifetime Value 197

SaaStr

JUNE 23, 2025

For seven years, growth was painfully slow: 2016-2021 : Minimal revenue, limited funding first years 2022 : $1M ARR (after 6 years!) Founded in 2016 by Amjad Masad (ex-Facebook), his wife Haya Odeh, and brother Faris Masad, the company started as a browser-based collaborative coding environment. 2023 : $2.4M

Software Review 208

Software Review AI Technical Review Venture Capital 208

SaaStr

JUNE 29, 2025

👉 10 Things Deel Did to Get from $1M to $100M ARR in 20 Months Deel recently announced it had crossed $1 billion in ARR, joining the exclusive club of B2B companies that have reached true unicorn revenue status. Scaled Sales Without Revenue Operations (And Paid Dearly) The Explosion : From 2 AEs to 50 AEs in one year.

Payment Services 179

Payment Services Sales Hiring Payment Solutions SaaS Payments 179

SaaStr

APRIL 15, 2025

Current State of Early-Stage Venture Market The early-stage venture landscape has experienced significant shifts since the peaks of 2021. We’re seeing: Deal activity decline : From the highs of 2021 (around 3.5B raised in Q4 2021), we’re seeing a return to baseline levels but still below pre-zero interest rate era volumes.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Venture Capital Outsourced Development AI 152

SaaStr

JULY 24, 2023

2 — New Workloads Are Only A Small Percentage Of Today’s Revenue, But Are The Majority Of Tomorrows. They milk the base, and the new customer account doesn’t remotely approach the new revenue growth rate. Adding new customers does, and ideally, growing new customers at least half as fast as revenue. Revenue growth.

Revenue 245

Revenue Scale Sales Hiring Cloud 245

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 25, 2023

Jameson Yung, SVP of Sales at Gong, and Sam Blond, Partner at Founders Fund and previous CRO at Brex, share five tactical ways to get back to growing and hitting revenue targets. The days of working a little for big returns are behind us in the Boom of ‘21, so what can you do to start hitting revenue targets? #1: Revenue matters, too.

Sales Hiring 274

Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Revenue Sales 274

SaaStr

MARCH 31, 2021

Revenue grew nicely at first from $1m to $3.5m — Jon Ma (@jonbma) March 27, 2021. Customer count growing 33%, revenue growing 65% — the “Golden Ratio” for future growth. UiPath grew from 6,009 customers last year to 7,968 at January 2021, or 33% growth. Fast, but revenue grew much faster (65%).

Outsourcing Services 362

Outsourcing Services Outsourced Development Payment Features Cloud 362

SaaStr

OCTOBER 4, 2024

In today’s dynamic SaaS landscape of hyperfuncational SaaS, the journey of building a product that customers adore, while simultaneously scaling revenue to nearly $1B, is still quite a feat. Not only is Klaviyo a rocketship but also the first to IPO in over 2 years (since December 2021) when it went public in September of 2023.

Revenue 300

Revenue Scale Underperforming Technical Team Sales Hiring 300

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

With too many examples from SaaStr Annual 2021 to call out specifically, here are 2 “Cloud talks plus decks” that I can imagine the Self-Taught Founder relying upon: David Sacks On SaaS Org Charts. Additional Resources: SaaStr Annual 2021 Sessions Worth Studying. Full Session YouTube. The much lower R-squared (0.22

Scale 354

Scale Forecasting Cloud Pricing 354