The Benchmarks are Back

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you’re growing 40% to 50% per year right now, you are CRUSHING IT.

Paid readers can download the full report below

TechCrunch may only cover the companies obliterating land, air, and speed milestones, but the reality is a lot of companies are just pluggin’ along.

And what’s more, they’re doing it while adding less headcount (see what I did there… more… less, ok I’ll get lost)

Here are my top takeaways from synthesizing all the private company data that was submitted this November.

Paid readers can download the full report below

  1. Headcount growth has hit the brakes.

Sub-$25M companies may not be firing employees, but they’re certainly in “one-in, one-out” mode. We’re seeing median headcount growth of just 3–5% vs. revenue growth of ~20–25%. Even top performers are only growing headcount ~10 points faster than peers. If AI tech adoption lags, AI as an excuse to delay hiring has been fully adopted.

  1. +40% growth is rare air in today’s market.

Across private companies, median growth ranges from 22–24% in the $5M–$50M bands, and public comps are growing just 13%. If you’re putting up +40% y/y growth today, you’re meaningfully ahead of the pack; +100% growth is the exception in WSJ articles, not the rule.

  1. Revenue / employee is quietly trending up.

Even with slower top-line growth, revenue per head is rising due to flat-ish denominators (see #1 above). There is a real inflection point post $25M ARR when companies jump from $135K to $260K per person at the median.

  1. CAC payback gets better with ARR & ACV size.

Slinging sub-$10K deals is a tough job right now. CAC payback stretches into multi-year territory. Company scale and deal size bolster sales efficiency, as the median CAC Payback drops into the high teens for +$50M ARR companies / +$100K ACVs. Regardless of where you stand, the best-in-class operators still get to even in sub-12 months.

  1. S&M spend over indexes to sales

As companies mature, the S&M mix settles into roughly a 70/30 split in favor of sales, with founder-led sales dominating at the very early stages and marketing gaining share in the mid-market. In a tougher demand environment, teams are still biasing toward quota-carrying heads over brand spend.

  1. The diff between winners and laggards is big.

Across NDR, burn multiple, CAC payback, Rule of 40, and revenue / employee, the gap between top and bottom quartiles is massive: The best companies aren’t just ahead; they’re playing a different game.

What follows is a 33 page report covering the following:

Sales Efficiency Benchmarks

  • Revenue growth

  • Retention by ARR Band

  • Retention by ACV Band

  • CAC Payback by ARR Band

  • CAC Payback by ACV Band

  • Sales vs Marketing Spend Mix

Staffing & Talent

  • Headcount growth

  • Headcount mix by department

  • Revenue per employee

Cost Structure and Efficiency

  • Gross Margin by ARR Band

  • Gross Margin by company sector

  • Spend as % of company sector

  • Burn Multiple by ARR Band

  • Rule of 40 by ARR Band

Most benchmarks are stale AF. These are not. I asked for the inputs (from heroes like you) less than a month ago.

Paid readers can feast on these tasty benchmarks below.

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