2020 SaaS Benchmarks Deck VFINAL

2020
EXPANSION SAAS
BENCHMARKS
SEAN FANNING & KYLE POYAR
View the interactive report at saasbenchmarks.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Enterprise
1 Introduction
2 Participant
Overview 3 Executive
Summary 4 Software is
Recession
Proof
5 6 7 8
Product Financial &
Go-to-Market Led Growth Operating Talent
Insights Insights Insights Insights
OV | 2020 EXPANSION SAAS BENCHMARKS Proprietary ©2020 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights Reserved 2
INTRODUCTION
Objective data is critical to making the right Data from our 2020 survey answered the burning
strategic decisions that can propel your long-term question on everyone’s mind: “What was the
growth. For this reason, we’re releasing the results impact of COVID on enterprise software?” The
of our fourth annual Expansion SaaS Benchmarks answer: enterprise software is recession
survey. This report was designed specifically to proof.
enable operators to compare themselves against
This year’s benchmarks report also explores topics
their exact peers across the metrics that matter most
including executive diversity and founder attitudes,
in a SaaS business. This year’s survey was live from
in addition to our usual insights on product led
June to September. This 2020 benchmark report
growth, go-to-market, and other data key to
incorporates data from more than 1200
operating and growing a successful expansion
respondents aggregated across prior surveys as
stage software business.
well as more than 400 this year alone.
THANKS TO OUR SURVEY PARTNERS
PARTICIPANT
OVERVIEW
DISTRIBUTION BY ARR DISTRIBUTION BY GEOGRAPHY
10% 12%
21%
7%
12%
5%
46%
15%
15%
30%
27%
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M US Europe Canada APAC Other
Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409.
DISTRIBUTION BY DISTRIBUTION BY
RESPONDENT ROLE TA R G E T C U S T O M E R S I Z E
2%
9%
16%
35%
4%
38%
21%
10%
3%
29% 33%
CEO / Founder / Co-Founder CFO / VP Finance Consumer Very small business

(VSB, <20 employees)
CMO / VP Marketi ng COO / VP of Operations SMB (20-100 employees) Midmarket (101-1,000 employees)
CRO / VP of Sales Other Enterprise (>1,000 employees)

EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
COMPANY PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS
SI ZE AND GROWTH
Empl oyees Number of full-time equivalent employees at the end of Q2 2020.
Fundi ng Amount of equity capital raised to date.
Annual Recurri ng Revenue ( ARR) Company annual recurring revenue (ARR) scale at the end of Q2 2020.
YoY Growt h Rat e Change in annual recurring revenue at the end of Q2 2020 vs. Q2 2019.
FINANCIAL
Sal es & Mark et i ng Spend Spending on sales & marketing, including headcount, as a % of ending ARR as of Q2 2020.
R&D Spend Spending on R&D, including headcount, as a % of ending ARR as of Q2 2020.
Gros s Margi ns Subscription revenue less cost of goods sold divided by subscription revenue at the end of Q2 2020.
Mont hl y Burn Rat e ( i n 000’ s ) Net monthly operating cash burn rate at the end of Q2 2020 (total $ lost each month, negative values = profit).
SAAS VALUE DRIVERS
CAC Payback ( mont hs ) Months of subscription gross margin to recover the fully loaded cost of acquiring a customer.
Gros s Dol l ar Ret ent i on Annual gross dollar retention (after churn, exclusive of upsells & expansion) seen in cohorts.
Net Dol l ar Ret ent i on Annual net dollar retention (after churn, inclusive of upsells & expansion) seen in cohorts.
DIVERSITY
Women i n Leaders hi p % of female representation among employees Director-level and above.
Underrepres ent ed Mi nori t i es i n Leaders hi p % of underrepresented minority representation among employees Director-level and above.
HOW TO READ THESE SLIDES
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5M-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M
SI ZE AND GROWTH
Empl oyees 10 (5-19) 25 (18-40) 52 (33-82) 93 (75-161) 220 (135-300) 495 (249-1054)
YoY Growt h Rat e 100% (12-177%) 60% (31-100%) 41% (22-84%) 46% (25-71%) 50% (18-75%) 21% (14-40%)
FINANCIAL
Sal es & Mark et i ng Spend 20% (13-37%) 30% (21-41%) 30% (20-41%) 35% (19-56%) 31% (20-40%) 29% (10-46%)
R&D Spend 68% (33-80%) 40% (30-60%) 32% (22-45%) 28% (20-40%) 27% (10-32%) 22% (10-30%)
Gros s Margi ns 67% (23-80%) Rows represent78%

75% (56-85%) common
(70-85%) KPIs across
79% (66-84%) 79% (72-84%) 75% (63-79%)
Mont hl y Burn Rat e ( $ i n 000s ) $50 ($0-175) categories

$50 ($0-175) including size and$200
$175 ($0-375) growth,
($0-500) $375 ($13-1,719) [N/A]
SAAS VALUE DRIVERS financial, value drivers, and diversity

CAC Payback ( mont hs ) 8 (3-11) 10 (5-15) 11 (8-15) 11 (11-15) 15 (11-30) 15 (11-21)
Gros s Dol l ar Ret ent i on 90% (55-95%) 90% (59-95%) 90% (85-97%) 87% (80-93%) 87% (80-95%) 90% (86-95%)
Net Dol l ar Ret ent i on 99% (70-110%) 100% (82-105%) 103% (92-111%) 102% (92-110%) 105% (97-113%) 105% (96-111%)
DIVERSITY
Women i n Leaders hi p 10% (0-33%) 20% (3-49%) 25% (19-34%) 29% (13-40%) 20% (10-30%) 15% (10-20%)
Underrepres ent ed Mi nori t i es i n Leaders hi p 10% (0-25%) 0% (0-0%) 0% (0-20%) 0% (0-25%) 0% (0-20%) 0% (0-20%)
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5M-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M
SI ZE AND GROWTH
Empl oyees 10 (5-19) 25 (18-40) 52 (33-82) 93 (75-161) 220 (135-300) 495 (249-1054)
YoY Growt h Rat e 100% (12-177%) 60% (31-100%) 41% (22-84%) 46% (25-71%) 50% (18-75%) 21% (14-40%)
FINANCIAL
Sal es & Mark et i ng Spend 20% (13-37%) Columns

30% (21-41%) 30%represent
(20-41%) distribution
35% (19-56%) of 31% (20-40%) 29% (10-46%)
R&D Spend 68% (33-80%) 40% (30-60%) 32% (22-45%) 28% (20-40%) 27% (10-32%) 22% (10-30%)
responses from companies at varying
Gros s Margi ns 67% (23-80%) 75% (56-85%) 78% (70-85%) 79% (66-84%) 79% (72-84%) 75% (63-79%)
Mont hl y Burn Rat e ( $ i n 000s ) $50 ($0-175)

levels $175
$50 ($0-175)
of ARR,
($0-375)
from$200
<$1M to >$50M
($0-500) $375 ($13-1,719) [N/A]
SAAS VALUE DRIVERS
DIVERSITY
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5M-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M
SI ZE AND GROWTH
Empl oyees 10 (5-19) 25 (18-40) 52 (33-82) 93 (75-161) 220 (135-300) 495 (249-1054)
YoY Growt h Rat e 100% (12-177%) 60% (31-100%) 41% (22-84%) 46% (25-71%) 50% (18-75%) 21% (14-40%)
FINANCIAL
R&D Spend 68% (33-80%) 40% (30-60%) 32% (22-45%) 28% (20-40%) 27% (10-32%) 22% (10-30%)
Gros s Margi ns 67% (23-80%) 75% (56-85%) 78% (70-85%) 79% (66-84%) 79% (72-84%) 75% (63-79%)
Each cell represents the median
Mont hl y Burn Rat e ( $ i n 000s ) $50 ($0-175) $50 ($0-175) $175 ($0-375) $200 ($0-500) $375 ($13-1,719) [N/A]
performance of a company, as well as
SAAS VALUE DRIVERS
CAC Payback ( mont hs ) 8 (3-11) the range (bottom

10 (5-15) quartile –11top
11 (8-15) quartile)15of
(11-15) (11-30) 15 (11-21)
Gros s Dol l ar Ret ent i on 90% (55-95%) each

90% metric 90%
(59-95%) at each respective
(85-97%) ARR
87% (80-93%) scale
87% (80-95%) 90% (86-95%)
DIVERSITY
SAAS METRICS BY ARR
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5M-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M
SI ZE AND GROWTH
Empl oyees 10 (5-19) 25 (18-40) 52 (33-82) 93 (75-161) 220 (135-300) 495 (249-1054)
YoY Growt h Rat e 100% (12-177%) 60% (31-100%) 41% (22-84%) 46% (25-71%) 50% (18-75%) 21% (14-40%)
FINANCIAL
R&D Spend 68% (33-80%) 40% (30-60%) 32% (22-45%) 28% (20-40%) 27% (10-32%) 22% (10-30%)
Gros s Margi ns 67% (23-80%) 75% (56-85%) 78% (70-85%) 79% (66-84%) 79% (72-84%) 75% (63-79%)
Mont hl y Burn Rat e ( $ i n 000s ) $50 ($0-175) $50 ($0-175) $175 ($0-375) $200 ($0-500) $375 ($13-1,719) $0 ($0-375)
SAAS VALUE DRIVERS
DIVERSITY
SAAS METRICS BY ARR (2020 vs. 2019)
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5M-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M
SI ZE AND GROWTH
Empl oyees 10 (↑ 2) 25 (0) 52 (↑ 5) 93 (↓ 7) 220 (↑ 40) 495 (↓ 60)
YoY Growt h Rat e 100% (↑ 20%) 60% (↓ 20%) 41% (↓ 9%) 46% (↓ 4%) 50% (↓ 10%) 21% (↓ 8%)
FINANCIAL
Sal es & Mark et i ng Spend 20% (↓ 10%) 30% (0%) 30% (↓ 5%) 35% (↓ 5%) 31% (↓ 11%) 29% (↓ 9%)
R&D Spend 68% (↑ 18%) 40% (↓ 8%) 32% (↑ 2%) 28% (↓ 2%) 27% (↓ 3%) 22% (↑ 2%)
Gros s Margi ns 67% (↓ 3%) 75% (↑ 2%) 78% (↓ 2%) 79% (↑ 4%) 79% (↑ 4%) 75% (0%)
Mont hl y Burn Rat e ( $ i n 000s ) $50 ($0) $50 ($0) $175 ($0) $200 (↓ $175) $375 ($0) $0 (↓ $50)
SAAS VALUE DRIVERS
CAC Payback ( mont hs ) 8 (↑ 3) 10 (↑ 2) 11 (0) 11 (↓ 4) 15 (0) 15 (0)
Gros s Dol l ar Ret ent i on 90% (0%) 90% (0%) 90% (0%) 87% (↓ 1%) 87% (↓ 2%) 90% (↑ 2%)
Net Dol l ar Ret ent i on 99% (↓ 1%) 100% (0%) 103% (↑ 3%) 102% (↑ 7%) 105% (↑ 3%) 105% (↑ 8%)
DIVERSITY
Women i n Leaders hi p 10% (0%) 20% (-5%) 25% (+5%) 29% (+4%) 20% (-5%) 15% (-14%)
Underrepres ent ed Mi nori t i es i n Leaders hi p 10% (N/A) 0% (N/A) 0% (N/A) 0% (N/A) 0% (N/A) 0% (N/A)
SAAS METRICS BY MOST RECENT FUNDING
Angel / Seed S e r ie s A S e r ie s B S e r ie s C S e r ie s D+
SI ZE AND GROWTH
Empl oyees 16 (8-27) 46 (25-88) 109 (53-195) 120 (74-196) 272 (173-557)
Fundi ng $3M ($0.5-3M) $8M ($8-15M) $28M ($15-43M) $43M ($28 -63M) $88M ($43-100M)
Annual Recurri ng Revenue ( ARR) $2M ($0.5-2M) $6M ($2-6M) $15M ($6-15M) $15M ($6-35M) $50M ($35-50M)
YoY Growt h Rat e 60% (26-100%) 60% (30-105%) 44% (27-74%) 35% (14-64%) 27% (19-50%)
FINANCIAL
Sal es & Mark et i ng Spend 25% (13-40%) 30% (20-44%) 40% (26-60%) 31% (20-43%) 37% (20-47%)
R&D Spend 50% (30-80%) 30% (20-50%) 30% (23-44%) 29% (15-35%) 29% (12-40%)
Gros s Margi ns 76% (40-85%) 75% (62-86%) 75% (67-85%) 75% (63-81%) 78% (73-81%)
Mont hl y Burn Rat e ( $ i n 000s ) $50 ($0-175) $175 ($50-375) $375 ($50-625) $375 ($50-750) $375 ($0-1,531)
SAAS VALUE DRIVERS
CAC Payback ( mont hs ) 8 (5-14) 11 (8-15) 15 (11-15) 13 (11-21) 15 (11-28)
Gros s Dol l ar Ret ent i on 90% (78-95%) 90% (76-96%) 90% (80-96%) 86% (79-90%) 90% (83-96%)
Net Dol l ar Ret ent i on 100% (87-110%) 103% (91-113%) 103 (98-112%) 103% (92-110%) 105% (96-113%)
DIVERSITY
Women i n Leaders hi p 23% (0-38%) 22% (6-38%) 25% (15-40%) 28% (11-36%) 16% (10-36%)
Underrepres ent ed Mi nori t i es i n Leaders hi p 0% (0-29%) 0% (0-15%) 1% (0-10%) 3% (0-15%) 6% (0-20%)

ENTERPRISE
SOFTWARE
IS RECESSION
PROOF
ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE IS RECESSION PROOF
% Change in Index Public SaaS is more valuable than ever

200% before – after falling nearly 50% from
SaaS all-time-highs in March, SaaS valuations
have rallied on the back of persistent
NASDAQ
150% long-term tailwinds. Plus, as investors
S&P
mature in their evaluation of B2B
markets, unit economics & defensibility,
100%
the future price uncertainty of the assets
seems to be reduced. These factors
have created exuberance in the
50%
market.
0% Despite the uncertainty of the COVID-

induced economic recession enterprise
software is largely proving to be
-50% recession proof as enterprise digital
1/1/20 10/30/20
transformations continue.
Source: Pitchbook as of 9/10/2020. SaaS index multiples calculated as enterprise value / revenue and represent
median value as of each date for the ~70 public SaaS companies OpenView tracks.
OV | 2020 EXPANSION SAAS BENCHMARKS Proprietary ©2020 OpenView
Proprietary Advisors,
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All Rights Reserved 17
17
PUBLIC MARKET DEMAND FOR SAAS REMAINS ROBUST
IPO Data Investor demand for public software

equities remains incredibly strong.
IPOs Capital TTM Financials (per S-1)

And the companies that are going
Age @ Gross Net Dollar CAC public in 2020 are extremely
Count Raised Revenue Growth
IPO Margin Retention Payback
impressive. They’re largely growing
faster and sustaining high growth
30.0
2018 16 12.2 $300.8 $168.1 39.2% 71.2% 115%
months longer, growing more efficiently,
raising less capital at scale, and getting
19.2 to be on average older compared to
2019 12 11.3 $220.0 $250.3 57.7% 74.9% 131%
months
previous IPO cohorts.
18.5
2020 11 12.9 $283.5 $155.1 51.0% 76.6% 120%
months These summary data are even more
impressive when you exclude outliers
like Zoom in 2019 and Snowflake in
2020.
Source: Pitchbook as of 9/10/2020

©2020 O LLC. All
LLC. Reserved
18
CUSTOMER DEMAND FOR SAAS REMAINS STRONG
% Impact from COVID on Expected Budget Enterprise SaaS has been recession
2%
proof and the buying environment
7% for software remains robust. Roughly
21%
~2/5 of respondents to our 2020
18% survey reported less than a 10%
decrease in expected 2020 ARR
18% while ~1/5 of respondents saw no

impact to budget at all.
34%
Even after aggressive expense cuts
and revenue reforecasts many
No impact / positive impact 0 to -9% impact companies maintained aggressive
-10 to -24% impact -25 to -49% impact
topline revenue targets.
-50 to -99% impact N/A / impact is unknown

©2020 O LLC. All
LLC. Reserved
19
SO, IT’S TIME FOR COMPANIES TO HIT THE GAS AGAIN
Companies reacted aggressively to COVID,

Historical SaaS Benchmarks by Year* (Median) but our data suggests companies are
acquiring and retaining their customers as
2018 2019 2020 efficiently as ever. They’re just not spending

nearly enough on acquisition to reach
those customers (sales & marketing
Growth Rate 54% 48% 43% expense fell 14% YoY) who have
demonstrated they still want to invest in
Net Dollar Retention 100% 99% 102% digital transformation! As a result, median
growth rates have dropped from 2019.
Payback Period 12 months 11 months 11 months The buying environment remains

strong, so it is time to get back to
R&D Spend as % of Revenue 30% 30% 30% acquiring customers… or get left
behind!
Sales & Marketing Spend as %
40% 35% 30%
of Revenue

Note*: Excludes companies <$1M ARR.
©2020 O LLC. All
LLC. Reserved
20
GO-TO-MARKET
INSIGHTS
GROWTH RATE BY COMPANY ARR
Growth Rate (Annual) Growth rate is highly correlated with
2019 Median
SaaS valuations. Software companies
Median Top Quartile
200% grow rapidly in their early stages – a
typical company doubles YoY and a
175%
top quartile company nearly triples.
150%
Except for at the very earliest stages,
125%
growth rates have fallen vs. 2019 but
100% as noted, growth (likely) didn’t slow as
a result of stunted customer demand
75%
except in the hardest hit industries (i.e.
50% hospitality and retail). Rather,
25%
companies lost their confidence
investing in revenue generating
0%
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M activities.
ARR Scale
SALES AND MARKETING SPEND BY ARR
Sales and Marketing Spend (% of ARR) Sales and marketing expenses
Bottom Quartile Median Top Quartile 2019 Median

are normally a SaaS company’s
60% largest areas of spend after they

hit ~$2.5M of ARR (before which
50%
point product & engineering
40%
dominates).
30%
20%
10%
0%
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M
ARR Scale
SALES AND MARKETING SPEND BY
DOMINANT SALES CHANNEL*
Sales and Marketing Spend (% of ARR) Best-in-class companies selling
primarily through self service
Bottom Quartile Median Top Quartile
and freemium can bring sales
60%
and marketing spend well
50%
below 20% of ARR.
40%
30% As you look to reach your

20% customers where they work, you
10%
need to reach them where they
live. Leveraging an “always
0%
Self Serve Inside Fi eld Indirect open” self serve model can
Dominant Sales Channel drive more efficient acquisition.
Note*: Dominant sales channel is sales channel with greatest ARR contribution per account
DOMINANT SALES CHANNEL* BY
CUSTOMER TYPE
Sales Channel Mix (% of ARR) Inside sales is the most popular
sales channel in SaaS and is
11% 14% 13%
24% used to reach customers of all
18% sizes, even very small
13% 32%
businesses.
53%
62%
Make sure sales channels are
50%
50%
supported by your average deal
33% size (do you make enough to

13% 9%
pay competitive sales
4%
VSB SMB Midmarket Enterprise commissions?) and how your
Self Serve Inside Fi eld Indirect customers prefer to buy.
Target Customer Type
Note*: Dominant sales channel is sales channel with greatest ARR contribution per account
MONTHS TO RECOVER CAC (CAC PAYBACK)
CAC Payback in Months * CAC payback lengthens when
Top Quartile Median Bottom Quartile 2019 Median companies achieve greater ARR scale
35 – watch out for worsening your go-to-

market efficiency as you grow. We’re
30 encouraged by this year’s CAC
payback data, which suggests
25
companies have adapted messaging
20 and are still reaching their customers
effectively.
15
10 In our opinion, companies are still

under-reporting their true CAC Payback
5
period. Be sure your payback is fully
0 loaded (including overhead like rent)
$1-2.5M $2.5-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M
and that it is gross margin affected.

ARR Scale
Note*: Excluded companies <$1M ARR because they don’t have enough data for predictable CAC payback..
PRODUCT LED
GROWTH
INSIGHTS
WHAT IS PRODUCT LED GROWTH?
Product led growth (PLG) is an end user-focused growth model

that relies on the product itself as the primary driver of customer
acquisition, conversion and expansion.
PLG is employed by many of the fastest growing software

companies including standout public companies.
PRODUCT LED GROWTH IS YOUR
SECRET WEAPON
NOT ALL ENTERPRISE SAAS IS
CREATED EQUAL; THE CASE FOR PLG
% Change in Index Product-led companies are
300%
always “open for business”, and
PLG
250%
SaaS
their lower entry prices are less
susceptible to budget cuts. In
200%
fact, the SaaS companies in our
150% PLG Index trade at a nearly 50%
100%
premium to the broader SaaS
index, proving that product led
50%
revenue is more valuable.
0%
-50%
1/1/20 10/30/20
Source: Pitchbook as of 9/10/2020. SaaS index multiples calculated as enterprise value / revenue and represent median
value as of each date for the ~70 public SaaS companies OpenView tracks.
ADOPTION OF PRODUCT LED
GROWTH STRATEGIES
Despite our best efforts at evangelizing
PLG All
Companies Companies PLG, most companies are still
experimenting, but relatively few have
Free trial offering 90% 46% gone ‘all in’ (just 27% of respondents
report PLG being fundamental to their
In-product onboarding 71% 29% business).
Product analytics for decision making 69% 32%

Free trials remain the most popular
Self-service buying experience 67% 26% product led growth strategy, but a free
trial is not enough to be PLG –
Bottoms-up sales 67% 38%
companies need to rally their entire
Dedicated growth resources (FTEs) 53% 28% organizations – from sales, marketing,
product, engineering and success –
Freemium offering 52% 25% around product led growth strategies.
Product Qualified Leads 47% 19%

Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409. PLG Companies defined as those leveraging more than three of the PLG
strategies surveyed.
PRODUCT LED GROWTH BY
TARGET CUSTOMER SEGMENT
% of respondents PLG Non-PLG Product led growth is especially
prevalent among companies
targeting VSB/SMB customers.
58%
63% 66% That said, 3 in 10 companies
73%
targeting large enterprises also
employ PLG tactics – PLG is for
the enterprise, too.
42%
37% 34%
27%
VSB SMB Midmarket Enterprise

Target Segment
PRODUCT LED GROWTH ACVs
BY ARR SCALE
PLG companies land with a lower
% of respondents <$25k $25-100k >$100k
CAC at more digestible ACVs to
7%
15% 11% 14% start, but can drive significant
25%
expansion in accounts over time as
45%
the product spreads throughout
43%
36% 13%
large organizations.
89% 22% These companies can be much less

85%
specific in their ideal customer
62%
50% 50% profile as they search for product
33% market fit, and over time target high
value customers specifically and
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M more efficiently.
PRODUCT LED BUSINESSES
GROW FASTER AT SCALE
Median Growth Rate PLG companies grow slowly in the
PLG Non-PLG very early days, as it takes time to
120%
build a community of free users and
convert those users to paying
100%
customers.
80%
After $10M in ARR, the magic of

60%
PLG kicks in and these companies
can scale faster. They aren’t as
40%
limited by their ability to hire,
20% onboard and feed leads to
enterprise sales reps and they’ve
0%
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M built up significant goodwill from
ARR Scale their users.
FINANCIAL &
OPERATING
INSIGHTS
GROSS MARGIN ON SUBSCRIPTION REVENUE
Gross Margin on Subscription Revenue Distribution Gross margin is a key and often
overlooked lever in any business
10%
15%
– 7/10 companies surveyed
have gross margins in excess of
11%
70%. Best-in-class companies
14%
across all ARR scales see gross
margins of at least 80%.
19%
16%
As a reminder, gross margin
should always include hosting,
15% as well as any services and
<50% 50 to 70% 70 to 75% 75 to 80% 80 to 85% 85 to 90% >90%

customer onboarding costs.
GROSS DOLLAR RETENTION RATES
Gross Dollar Retention Rates (Annual) Top tier gross retention rates are
consistent (~85-90%) regardless
12%
of last round or ARR scale.
4%
6% Similarly, these rates are

consistent regardless of bull or
53% bear market conditions. Across
all segments, GDR was within +-
25%
2% from 2019 to 2020. 90%+
Gross dollar retention is now
“table stakes” in enterprise
SaaS.
<60% 60 to 70% 70 to 80% 80 to 90% >90%
NET DOLLAR RETENTION RATES
Net Dollar Retention Rates (Annual) 2 in 5 companies surveyed

6% reported net dollar retention
6% 17% over 105% and 1 in 10
7% reported NDR over 125%.
11% Net dollar retention tells the

whole story about what is
23%
happening within your customer
11%
base and should be tracked at
the cohort level to visualize
19%
trends over time.
<85% 85 to 95% 95 to 100% 100 to 105%
105 to 115% 115 to 125% 125 to 135% >135%

NET RETENTION BY TARGET CUSTOMER TYPE
Net Dollar Retention Rates (Annual) Regardless of segment, a

Bottom Quartile Median Top Quartile
competitive NDR rate lies
120%
between 100% and 110%.
110%
However, VSB and SMB

100%
segments introduce greater
90% variance. As SMBs become
80%
smaller and smaller, net
retention can start to mimic B2C
70%
software.
60%
VSB SMB Midmarket Enterprise
Target Customer Type

EQUITY CAPITAL RAISED BY ARR*
ARR Scale With the rise of VC growth funds,

mega-rounds and record-
<$1M 79% 14% 7%
breaking VC fund sizes as well
$1-2.5M 48% 36% 9% 3% 3%
as PE firms diversifying strategies
$2.5-10M 30% 23% 29% 16% 2% in order to deploy capital,
companies have access to more
$10-20M 7% 10% 17% 57% 10%
and more cash.
$20-50M 6% 71% 24%
Even more modest companies

>$50M 8% 8% 25% 58%
($10-$20M ARR) can raise large
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
< $5M $5-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M

amounts of equity capital (~2/3
have raised >$20M)
Equity Capital Raised
Note*: Excludes companies that haven’t raised capital
MONTHLY CASH BURN
Monthly Cash Burn ($000’s)

Burn was subject to two forces.
2020 Median 2019 Median
$400 Companies’ responses to COVID
would intuitively decrease burn.
$350
Large amounts of investor
$300
capital would intuitively raise it.
$250
As both customer and investor
$200
demand for software assets
$150 remains strong, burn remained
$100 consistent with last year’s report.
$50
$0
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M
Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409. $0 burn implies breakeven or profitable. ARR Scale
TALENT
INSIGHTS
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES BY ARR SCALE
Number of Employees In the early stages, companies

Bottom Quartile Median Top Quartile have one employee for every
1200 $100,000 in ARR. As companies
scale to $20M, that figure jumps
1000
to $150,000. Best-in-class is
800 $200,000+.
600
On average, 35% of employees
400
are in Engineering and another
200 20% are in Sales. The next
largest functions are Product
0
<$1M $1-2.5M $2.5-10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M (12%) and Customer Success
(11%).
ARR Scale
MIX OF EMPLOYEES BY FUNCTION, BY
ARR SCALE
ARR Scale At the early stages, most startup
employees are in Product &
<$1M 45% 13% 9% 12% 9% 12% Engineering roles. However, as
companies expand, they need to
$1-2.5M 30% 13% 10% 19% 14% 15%
rapidly grow Customer Success and
$2.5-10M 33% 12% 10% 17% 12% 15% specialized functions to sustain
rapid revenue growth.
$10-20M 31% 11% 9% 21% 12% 16%
$20-50M 32% 10% 10% 22% 11% 16%

We notice that Engineering tends to
be the main tradeoff as companies
>$50M 27% 13% 10% 21% 11% 18% scale – once the product is built,
commercial activities take priority.
Engineering Product Marketi ng Sales Customer Success Other
FTE Mix by Function

MIX OF EMPLOYEES BY FUNCTION,
BY DOMINANT SALES CHANNEL
ARR Scale Companies leveraging self
service or freemium channels
Self Serve 39% 18% 17% 8% 7% 12% commit a greater proportion of
their resources to engineering
Inside 34% 12% 10% 20% 12% 13%

and product – this is particularly
evident in PLG companies who
rely on organic strategies and
Fi eld 35% 11% 9% 18% 12% 14%
product awareness to drive
inbound demand.
Indirect 32% 12% 8% 17% 10% 21%
Engineering Product Marketi ng Sales Customer Success Other
FTE Mix by Function

FEMALE-LED TEAMS PERFORM BETTER, BUT
RAISE LESS CAPITAL
50% $18M
While female-led teams
outperform their peers (faster
$15M growth), they are doing so with
G ro w t h Rat e (A n n u al)
E q u it y C apit al Raise d
far less equity capital ($8M vs.
46% $15M).
$8M Although diversity has been a

43% trend in this report for years, it’s
important to remember you
can’t just talk the talk and work
40% $0M
50% or more female Less than 50% female still needs to be done.
Median Growth Rate Median Equity Capital
PROGRESS ON GENDER EQUALITY
Larger companies continue to fare

slightly better when it comes to
gender diversity within
2017 2018 2019 2020
management teams, and, after
1+ female BoD stagnation in 2019, we’re seeing
29% 37% 38% 42%
member slight progress.
Gender parity
12% 13% 14% 14%
in leadership 42% of respondents had one or
more female BoD member, which is
Gender parity
4% 8% 8% 6%
on BoD an uptick from last year.
Meanwhile, 6% had gender parity
on the BoD and 14% had parity
among their leadership team.
ABOUT THE
AUTHORS
SEAN FANNING
Director, Corporate Development
Sean supports corporate development at

OpenView, including helping the firm’s portfolio
establish strategic relationships with potential
alliance partners and acquirers, advising on and
executing M&A and capital raise transactions,
supporting portfolio exit planning activities, and
communicating trends across M&A, PE, and public
markets.
Read Sean’s weekly Capital Markets Roundup

here!
sean@ov.vc @seandougfan /seandfanning
KYLE POYAR
VP of Growth
Kyle helps OpenView’s portfolio companies

accelerate top-line growth through deep insights
into their market landscape and customers. He
leads segmentation, positioning, channel/partner
strategy, new market entry and packaging/pricing
initiatives, partnering closely with portfolio
leadership teams.
kyle@ov.vc @poyark /kyle-poyar
DAN KNIGHT
Analyst, Growth Team
Dan works with OpenView’s portfolio companies to

achieve and sustain best-in-class growth. He’s
supported OpenView’s Growth, Capital Markets,
and Investment teams to work with the world’s best
expansion stage software companies.
knight@ov.vc @dankni ghtnews1 /dan-c-knight
THE EXPANSION STAGE SOFTWARE VC
Our mission is to improve people’s

working lives.
We do this by:
• Investing in the best software
companies
• Helping our portfolio companies
accelerate growth and become
market leaders
Learn more at ov.vc

THANK
YOU

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2020

View the interactive report at saasbenchmarks.com

Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409.

CEO / Founder / Co-Founder CFO / VP Finance Consumer Very small business

CRO / VP of Sales Other Enterprise (>1,000 employees)

Empl oyees Number of full-time equivalent employees at the end of Q2 2020.

Fundi ng Amount of equity capital raised to date.

R&D Spend Spending on R&D, including headcount, as a % of ending ARR as of Q2 2020.

SAAS VALUE DRIVERS

Women i n Leaders hi p % of female representation among employees Director-level and above.

Gros s Margi ns 67% (23-80%) Rows represent78%

Mont hl y Burn Rat e ( $ i n 000s ) $50 ($0-175) categories

SAAS VALUE DRIVERS financial, value drivers, and diversity

Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409.

Sal es & Mark et i ng Spend 20% (13-37%) Columns

Mont hl y Burn Rat e ( $ i n 000s ) $50 ($0-175)

SAAS VALUE DRIVERS

CAC Payback ( mont hs ) 8 (3-11) 10 (5-15) 11 (8-15) 11 (11-15) 15 (11-30) 15 (11-21)

Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409.

CAC Payback ( mont hs ) 8 (3-11) the range (bottom

Gros s Dol l ar Ret ent i on 90% (55-95%) each

Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409.

SAAS VALUE DRIVERS

CAC Payback ( mont hs ) 8 (3-11) 10 (5-15) 11 (8-15) 11 (11-15) 15 (11-30) 15 (11-21)

Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409.

Empl oyees 10 (↑ 2) 25 (0) 52 (↑ 5) 93 (↓ 7) 220 (↑ 40) 495 (↓ 60)

SAAS VALUE DRIVERS

CAC Payback ( mont hs ) 8 (↑ 3) 10 (↑ 2) 11 (0) 11 (↓ 4) 15 (0) 15 (0)

Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409.

SAAS VALUE DRIVERS

CAC Payback ( mont hs ) 8 (5-14) 11 (8-15) 15 (11-15) 13 (11-21) 15 (11-28)

Underrepres ent ed Mi nori t i es i n Leaders hi p 0% (0-29%) 0% (0-15%) 1% (0-10%) 3% (0-15%) 6% (0-20%)

% Change in Index Public SaaS is more valuable than ever

0% Despite the uncertainty of the COVID-

IPO Data Investor demand for public software

IPOs Capital TTM Financials (per S-1)

OV | 2020 EXPANSION SAAS BENCHMARKS Proprietary ©2020 OpenView

18% while ~1/5 of respondents saw no

Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409.

OV | 2020 EXPANSION SAAS BENCHMARKS Proprietary ©2020 OpenView

Companies reacted aggressively to COVID,

2018 2019 2020 efficiently as ever. They’re just not spending

Payback Period 12 months 11 months 11 months The buying environment remains

Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409.

Growth Rate (Annual) Growth rate is highly correlated with

Sales and Marketing Spend (% of ARR) Sales and marketing expenses

Bottom Quartile Median Top Quartile 2019 Median

60% largest areas of spend after they

Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409.

30% As you look to reach your

33% size (do you make enough to

CAC Payback in Months * CAC payback lengthens when

35 – watch out for worsening your go-to-

10 In our opinion, companies are still

Source: 2020 OpenView SaaS Metrics Survey, N=409.

Product led growth (PLG) is an end user-focused growth model

PLG is employed by many of the fastest growing software

Product analytics for decision making 69% 32%

Product Qualified Leads 47% 19%

VSB SMB Midmarket Enterprise