It’s Time for the Q1 Private Company Benchmarks!
I go to a lot of finance conferences. what’s mind blowing is I’ll meet people IRL and they’ll be like “yo! I used your benchmarks in my board deck last quarter!”
I’m so appreciative that people opt into this ‘give to get’ model
These reports almost kill me each time to pull together, so that feedback motivates me to continually make these benchmarks better and more useful
Yoooooo, what up, board? Growth don’t need to be as high as ya think!
Thanks for making this the best source for private company metrics
For those of you who missed it, here’s a link to Q4’s results (full PDF download for paying members).
What we cover
In each report, we span revenue, cost structure, and SaaS metrics. And do our best to filter by ARR band and deal size (ACV) when appropriate.
I. Sales Efficiency
ARR Growth by Stage
Retention (by ARR & ACV)
CAC Payback (by ARR & ACV)
Sales vs. Marketing Spend Mix
II. Staffing & Talent Strategy
Headcount Growth by Stage
Department Mix
Revenue per Employee
III. Cost Structure & Efficiency
Gross Margin (by ARR & Company Type)
Spend as % of Revenue
Burn Multiple
Rule of 40
Got a metric you want to add? Just ask. Seriously. Reply back to this email.
How Submissions Work
While the output is robust, we’ve kept the submission form short—it takes ~4 minutes (seriously, it’s not gonna break your brain).
It’s literally 8 questions.
You’ll enter basic inputs.
And we’ll calculate all outputs and any compound metrics (like CAC Payback and Burn Multiple) for you.
Everything is anonymized. No company names. No sketchy tracking. Just great benchmarks.
For the first 25 readers who submit… I’d like to send you a ‘Mostly Metrics’ Ciele branded running hat 🧢
Just reply back to this email with a screen shot of the survey’s “completed” screen and I’ll put one in the mail for you.
It will prob fit your head better
Wishing you metrics that beat the benchmarks,
CJ
