Companies that spend more on sales and marketing (as a % of revenue) generally grew at a faster rate than those that spent less

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Not surprisingly, companies that spend more on sales and marketing (as a % of revenue) generally grew at a faster rate than those that spent less. This year’s results were in-line with previous surveys.

While field sales remains the most popular way to sell for companies >$2.5MM revenue, companies with <$2.5MM revenue tended to use inside sales as their primary mode of distribution. In comparison with previous surveys, companies $2.5MM+ have shifted to greater use of field sales (+12 percentage points from 2015).

More SaaS + Software Stats

Increases in revenue growth rates drive twice as much market-capitalisation gain as margin improvements for companies with less than $4 billion in revenues

While field sales remains the most popular way to sell for companies >$2.5MM revenue, companies with <$2.5MM revenue tended to use inside sales as their primary mode of distribution

26% of SAAS companies with at least $15MM in GAAP revenue had a revenue growth rate + EBITDA margin of 40% or higher.

Non-renewal rates are higher than gross dollar churn rates and higher for shorter duration contracts. Source: ForEntrepreneurs

When venture capitalists participate in seed rounds, the average round size is 3x larger

The average company gets 16% of new ACV sales from up-sells and expansions, though companies with revenue between $10MM-$40MM are relying more heavily on up-sell and expansions

The very best SAAS business has a negative churn rate and will have a Dollar Retention Rate of greater than 100%

More than two thirds of SAAS companies experienced annual churn rates of 5% or higher

Non-renewal rates are higher than gross dollar churn rates and higher for shorter duration contracts

Median annual gross dollar churn was 8%, 7%, 6% and 8% in 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013

More Growth Strategy Stats

Growth trumps all

In 2017, Foxconn Technology Group achieved a net income of 135.37 billion New Taiwanese dollars, the equivalent to approximately 4.55 billion U.S. dollars.

26% of SAAS companies with at least $15MM in 2015 GAAP revenue had a revenue growth rate + EBITDA margin of 40% or higher

In 2017, the world invested around 3.4 billion U.S. dollars in small hydropower technologies, down from 3.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2016.

When determining Sales Capacity, “it’s worth noting that some percentage of new sales hires won’t meet expectations, so that should be taken into consideration when setting hiring goals. Typically we have seen failure rates around 25-30% for field sales reps, but this varies by company. The failure rate is lower for inside sales reps. can be counted as half of a productive rep”

51% of large (revenue >$2.5million) SaaS companies use field sales as their primary method of distribution

26% of SAAS companies with at least $15MM in GAAP revenue had a revenue growth rate + EBITDA margin of 40% or higher.

The fastest growing SaaS companies scale their organizations rapidly, growing their teams by an average of 56% each year

The venture-backed companies that were acquired most often had a 7 percent share of female execs, as opposed to 3 percent at unsuccessful (unacquired) firms

High-growth companies are 8X more likely to reach $1 billion in revenues than those growing less than 20%.