INSIGHTS FROM 500+ SAAS COMPANIES ON
HOW TO GROW
FASTER IN 2019
Kyle Poyar
Liz Cain
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN
SAAS
What’s most likely
to keep a founder
up at night?
A. Cash burn
B. GTM execution
C. Hiring the best talent
D. Fundraising
E. Product execution
SaaSbenchmarks.com
3©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
22%
26%
37%
50%
56%
Fundraising
Cash burn
Hiring the best talent
GTM execution
Product execution
WHAT FOUNDERS HAD TO SAY
💵
🔥
🦄
📲
💪
4©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY
639
Survey participants
5©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
639
Survey participants
70%
Founder or C-level
2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY
6©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
639
Survey participants
70%
Founder or C-level
44%
Based outside the US
2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY
7©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
639
Survey participants
70%
Founder or C-level
44%
Based outside the US
19
Survey partners
2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY
8©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
639
Survey participants
70%
Founder or C-level
44%
Based outside the US
19
Survey partners
54%
B/w $1-20M in ARR
2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY
9©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
639
Survey participants
70%
Founder or C-level
44%
Based outside the US
19
Survey partners
54%
B/w $1-20M in ARR
2017
First year of the study
2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY
10©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
COMPARED TO LAST YEAR,
WE’RE SEEING MORE FUNDRAISING
Equity Capital Raised by ARR
75%
53%
21%
9%
18%
23%
13%
8%
7%
17%
51%
32%
5%
15%
53%
$1-2.5M ARR
$2.5-10M ARR
$10-20M ARR
$20-50M ARR
<$10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M
2x as many
$50M+ raisers
compared to 2018
11©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
BUT YOY GROWTH…
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
<$1M
ARR
$1-2.5M
ARR
$2.5-10M
ARR
$10-20M
ARR
$20-50M
ARR
>$50M
ARR
2018 growth rate
Median Growth Rate by ARR
12©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
BUT YOY GROWTH IS STAGNANT
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
<$1M
ARR
$1-2.5M
ARR
$2.5-10M
ARR
$10-20M
ARR
$20-50M
ARR
>$50M
ARR
2019 growth rate
2018 growth rate
Median Growth Rate by ARR
HOW DO WE
FIX THIS? 🔧⚙️
SaaSbenchmarks.com
GET FOCUSED
SaaSbenchmarks.com
15©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE?
Our product can
work for everyone.
16©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE?
Our product can
work for everyone.
Can it???? 🙃
17©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE?
If we just build this
one feature, we
could sign up this
major account
18©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE?
If we just build this
one feature, we
could sign up this
major account
What’s the trade off?
🤔🤔🤔
19©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE?
Each sales rep has
their own way of
finding new leads.
20©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE?
Each sales rep has
their own way of
finding new leads.
WTF? 🤡
YOU HAVE A
SEGMENTATION PROBLEM
SaaSbenchmarks.com
PICK A SWIM LANE
TO WIN IN THE MARKET
SaaSbenchmarks.com
23©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
21
HOW TO GET FOCUSED
Study your win-loss
data and take the
time to enrich it
Don’t over-engineer it
– your sweet spot
shouldn’t be a surprise
Execution alignment is
more important than
being exactly ‘right’
1 3
NAIL YOUR PRICING
SaaSbenchmarks.com
HAVE YOU THOUGHT
DEEPLY ABOUT PRICING?
SaaSbenchmarks.com
26©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
1% CHANCE OF
HURTING ARR
1%
Decreased
ARR
27©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
99% CHANCE OF
INCREASING ARR
1%
Decreased
ARR
0-9%
ARR increase
17%
10-24%
ARR increase
36%
25-49%
ARR increase
23% 23%
50%+
ARR increase
28©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
HOW TO FIX YOUR PRICING
21
Conduct pricing
research and collect
data on pricing
Designate someone
to own pricing
Test a higher price
(after customers have
seen value)
1 3
ADOPT PRODUCT
LED GROWTH
SaaSbenchmarks.com
30©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
TODAY END USERS ARE
FINDING GREAT SOFTWARE
31©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
AND TELLING THEIR BOSS
WHICH ONES TO BUY
32©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
PRODUCT LED GROWTH
Product usage serves as the primary driver of
user acquisition, conversion and expansion.
33©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
THE PLG IPO WAVE IS
BUILDING
Product Led Growth IPOs Since 2012
34©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
I hate expense reports.
So annoying!
I hate file sharing.
So annoying!
I hate internal emails.
So annoying!
I hate scheduling.
So annoying!
I hate web conferencing.
So annoying!
I hate post-it notes.
So annoying!
BECOMING PRODUCT LED:
ANNOYANCE IS OPPORTUNITY
35©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
HOW TO PLG-IFY YOUR BUSINESS
PLG
Companies
All
Companies
Free trial offering 74% 45%
Product analytics for decision making 67% 31%
Self-service buying experience 61% 28%
Bottoms-up sales 55% 31%
Product qualified leads 53% 29%
Referral programs 50% 31%
Dedicated growth FTEs 47% 27%
Freemium offering 38% 18%
36©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
PLG TAKES PATIENCE
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
<$1M
ARR
$1-2.5M
ARR
$2.5-10M
ARR
$10-20M
ARR
$20-50M
ARR
>$50M
ARR
Non-PLG
Median Growth Rate by ARR and PLG Adoption
37©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
PLG TAKES PATIENCE
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
<$1M
ARR
$1-2.5M
ARR
$2.5-10M
ARR
$10-20M
ARR
$20-50M
ARR
>$50M
ARR
PLG Non-PLG
Median Growth Rate by ARR and PLG Adoption
Faster
growth
at scale
compared to non-
PLG companies
38©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
IT EVEN WORKS FOR ENTERPRISE
48% 42% 36%
25%
52% 58% 64%
75%
VSB SMB Midmarket Enterprise
PLG
Non-PLG
PLG Adoption by Target Segment
THE TAKEAWAY
SaaSbenchmarks.com
40©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
Founders are having trouble sleeping.
They’re worried most about Product and GTM execution.
Fundraising is easy,
but accelerating growth is hard.
Start by picking a swim lane.
Getting focused allows you to hone your roadmap and GTM strategy.
Nail your pricing.
Put someone in charge and collect pricing data.
Adopt Product Led Growth (PLG).
Appeal to the end user; don’t annoy them.
THE TAKEAWAY
1
2
3
4
5
THANK YOU
G O T Q U E S T I O N S ? W E ’ V E G O T A N S W E R S .
T W E E T @ O P E N V I E W V E N T U R E
SaaSbenchmarks.com

2019 Expansion SaaS Benchmarks

  • 1.
    INSIGHTS FROM 500+SAAS COMPANIES ON HOW TO GROW FASTER IN 2019 Kyle Poyar Liz Cain
  • 2.
    SO YOU THINKYOU CAN SAAS What’s most likely to keep a founder up at night? A. Cash burn B. GTM execution C. Hiring the best talent D. Fundraising E. Product execution SaaSbenchmarks.com
  • 3.
    3©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com 22% 26% 37% 50% 56% Fundraising Cash burn Hiring the best talent GTM execution Product execution WHAT FOUNDERS HAD TO SAY 💵 🔥 🦄 📲 💪
  • 4.
    4©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com 2019 EXPANSION BENCHMARKS STUDY 639 Survey participants
  • 5.
    5©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com 639 Survey participants 70% Founder or C-level 2019 EXPANSION BENCHMARKS STUDY
  • 6.
    6©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com 639 Survey participants 70% Founder or C-level 44% Based outside the US 2019 EXPANSION BENCHMARKS STUDY
  • 7.
    7©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com 639 Survey participants 70% Founder or C-level 44% Based outside the US 19 Survey partners 2019 EXPANSION BENCHMARKS STUDY
  • 8.
    8©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com 639 Survey participants 70% Founder or C-level 44% Based outside the US 19 Survey partners 54% B/w $1-20M in ARR 2019 EXPANSION BENCHMARKS STUDY
  • 9.
    9©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com 639 Survey participants 70% Founder or C-level 44% Based outside the US 19 Survey partners 54% B/w $1-20M in ARR 2017 First year of the study 2019 EXPANSION BENCHMARKS STUDY
  • 10.
    10©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com COMPARED TO LAST YEAR, WE’RE SEEING MORE FUNDRAISING Equity Capital Raised by ARR 75% 53% 21% 9% 18% 23% 13% 8% 7% 17% 51% 32% 5% 15% 53% $1-2.5M ARR $2.5-10M ARR $10-20M ARR $20-50M ARR <$10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M 2x as many $50M+ raisers compared to 2018
  • 11.
    11©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com BUT YOY GROWTH… 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% <$1M ARR $1-2.5M ARR $2.5-10M ARR $10-20M ARR $20-50M ARR >$50M ARR 2018 growth rate Median Growth Rate by ARR
  • 12.
    12©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com BUT YOY GROWTH IS STAGNANT 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% <$1M ARR $1-2.5M ARR $2.5-10M ARR $10-20M ARR $20-50M ARR >$50M ARR 2019 growth rate 2018 growth rate Median Growth Rate by ARR
  • 13.
    HOW DO WE FIXTHIS? 🔧⚙️ SaaSbenchmarks.com
  • 14.
  • 15.
    15©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE? Our product can work for everyone.
  • 16.
    16©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE? Our product can work for everyone. Can it???? 🙃
  • 17.
    17©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE? If we just build this one feature, we could sign up this major account
  • 18.
    18©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE? If we just build this one feature, we could sign up this major account What’s the trade off? 🤔🤔🤔
  • 19.
    19©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE? Each sales rep has their own way of finding new leads.
  • 20.
    20©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE? Each sales rep has their own way of finding new leads. WTF? 🤡
  • 21.
    YOU HAVE A SEGMENTATIONPROBLEM SaaSbenchmarks.com
  • 22.
    PICK A SWIMLANE TO WIN IN THE MARKET SaaSbenchmarks.com
  • 23.
    23©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com 21 HOW TO GET FOCUSED Study your win-loss data and take the time to enrich it Don’t over-engineer it – your sweet spot shouldn’t be a surprise Execution alignment is more important than being exactly ‘right’ 1 3
  • 24.
  • 25.
    HAVE YOU THOUGHT DEEPLYABOUT PRICING? SaaSbenchmarks.com
  • 26.
    26©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com 1% CHANCE OF HURTING ARR 1% Decreased ARR
  • 27.
    27©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com 99% CHANCE OF INCREASING ARR 1% Decreased ARR 0-9% ARR increase 17% 10-24% ARR increase 36% 25-49% ARR increase 23% 23% 50%+ ARR increase
  • 28.
    28©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com HOW TO FIX YOUR PRICING 21 Conduct pricing research and collect data on pricing Designate someone to own pricing Test a higher price (after customers have seen value) 1 3
  • 29.
  • 30.
    30©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com TODAY END USERS ARE FINDING GREAT SOFTWARE
  • 31.
    31©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com AND TELLING THEIR BOSS WHICH ONES TO BUY
  • 32.
    32©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com PRODUCT LED GROWTH Product usage serves as the primary driver of user acquisition, conversion and expansion.
  • 33.
    33©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com THE PLG IPO WAVE IS BUILDING Product Led Growth IPOs Since 2012
  • 34.
    34©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com I hate expense reports. So annoying! I hate file sharing. So annoying! I hate internal emails. So annoying! I hate scheduling. So annoying! I hate web conferencing. So annoying! I hate post-it notes. So annoying! BECOMING PRODUCT LED: ANNOYANCE IS OPPORTUNITY
  • 35.
    35©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com HOW TO PLG-IFY YOUR BUSINESS PLG Companies All Companies Free trial offering 74% 45% Product analytics for decision making 67% 31% Self-service buying experience 61% 28% Bottoms-up sales 55% 31% Product qualified leads 53% 29% Referral programs 50% 31% Dedicated growth FTEs 47% 27% Freemium offering 38% 18%
  • 36.
    36©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com PLG TAKES PATIENCE 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% <$1M ARR $1-2.5M ARR $2.5-10M ARR $10-20M ARR $20-50M ARR >$50M ARR Non-PLG Median Growth Rate by ARR and PLG Adoption
  • 37.
    37©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com PLG TAKES PATIENCE 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% <$1M ARR $1-2.5M ARR $2.5-10M ARR $10-20M ARR $20-50M ARR >$50M ARR PLG Non-PLG Median Growth Rate by ARR and PLG Adoption Faster growth at scale compared to non- PLG companies
  • 38.
    38©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com IT EVEN WORKS FOR ENTERPRISE 48% 42% 36% 25% 52% 58% 64% 75% VSB SMB Midmarket Enterprise PLG Non-PLG PLG Adoption by Target Segment
  • 39.
  • 40.
    40©2019 OpenView Advisors,LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com Founders are having trouble sleeping. They’re worried most about Product and GTM execution. Fundraising is easy, but accelerating growth is hard. Start by picking a swim lane. Getting focused allows you to hone your roadmap and GTM strategy. Nail your pricing. Put someone in charge and collect pricing data. Adopt Product Led Growth (PLG). Appeal to the end user; don’t annoy them. THE TAKEAWAY 1 2 3 4 5
  • 41.
    THANK YOU G OT Q U E S T I O N S ? W E ’ V E G O T A N S W E R S . T W E E T @ O P E N V I E W V E N T U R E SaaSbenchmarks.com