UNMATCHED INSIGHTS AND RESEARCH FOR SAAS AND SOFTWARE COMPANIES

Find answers and actionable advice from our work with the world’s leading technology brands and the #1 SaaS and software benchmark dataset

Watch This Space – Next Saas conversation

OPEXEngine CEO Lauren Kelley hosts interesting SaaS Finance industry experts to cover trending topics and new insights.

on-demand webinars

Stream our latest webinars from our SaaS Conversations with Lauren Kelley series.

OPEXEngine Blog

Insights, observations, and perspectives based on our work with the world’s leading technology brands

cheat sheets

Determining What COGs Is & Is Not

This COGs Cheat Sheet explains how companies and investors can calculate the profitability of revenues, SaaS business model purity, and company efficiency. Our Cheat Sheet on COGs will help you calculate this metric as well as how investors look closely at your gross margin to support valuation models.

Calculating ARR At Different Growth Stages

ARR is one of the most important SaaS KPIs as it helps forecast revenue for the coming year. Annual recurring revenue aids in measuring the growth of your business and is the basis for calculating the NDR. Our Cheat Sheet on ARR will help you calculate this metric as well as how Investors view ARR at different business growth stages.

4 SaaS Sales KPIs & How to Calculate Them

OPEXEngine’s Cheat Sheet: 4 SaaS Sales KPIs and How to Calculate Them. These key KPIs and benchmarks are critical for planning company growth and expenses as well as identifying weaknesses – or strengths – in sales productivity in order to keep improving efficiency and growth.

Cheat Sheet: SaaS, Term License & On-Premises Software

The latest version of OPEXEngine’s Cheat Sheet: SaaS, Subscription and On-Premises Software—Don’t Confuse Subscription with SaaS, is a quick and easy read on the differences between all three.

published research

Path to IPO Series: DocuSign, Inc.

This research document focuses on DocuSign’s journey to the public markets and highlights the choices that company management made to maximize value and achieve the desired outcome.

Key SaaS Metrics and Benchmarks

This white paper looks at key differences in financial modelling between Traditional Software models and a SaaS model and reviews multiple key SaaS metrics.

Fast Growth SaaS

This white paper from OPEXEngine focuses on key indicators of value in fast growth SaaS companies.

Transitioning a Traditional Software Company to a SaaS Model

This white paper from OPEXEngine focuses on key financial modelling differences between traditional, perpetual license models and a SaaS business.

The Path to IPO: Workday, Inc.

This report was prepared through independent research into Workday’s public filings to provide some insight into Workday’s business model and the operational growth valued by public market investors.

OPEXEngine SaaS R&D Productivity Report

This report is designed to help SaaS companies benchmark the expense and productivity of their R&D operations against similar companies for budgeting and planning purposes.

Calculating SaaS COGS & CAC

In this white paper, learn how to categorize a number of key areas that can have a big impact on your metrics.

OPEXEngine SaaS Sales Benchmark Report

Get the data you need to optimize your SaaS sales organization and launch your 2018 sales plan with confidence.

2017 & 2018 SaaS Benchmark Reports

OPEXEngine’s SaaS Sales Management Benchmarking Report delivers the latest benchmarks for private and public SaaS companies.

case studies

Benchmarking helps VelocityEHS® to Invest & Grow with Confidence

VelocityEHS® uses the BenchmarkEngine™ to compare itself with other SaaS players especially at a more granular level than through other sources.

How Benchmarking Helps Adaptive Insights Manage Budgets & Targets

Adaptive Insight’s financial organization uses the BenchmarkEngineTM to benchmark performance against peers and set internal targets.

DialSource Uses the BenchmarkEngine™ In Planning Process

Dialsource uses BenchmarkEngine™ to be able to compare itself to other similar companies so they know where its strengths and weaknesses lie.

Intelex Uses Benchmarking to Drive Growth

Intelex drove 30% growth in 2017 using OPEXEngine’s benchmarks and Adaptive Insights to guide operations.

Interview with Mike Morgan, CFO of Bomgar Corporation

Bomgar is a venture-backed, midsized software vendor which has ranked in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for the past 4 years.

Interview w/ Larry Bohn, Managing Dir., General Catalyst Partners

The tagline for General Catalyst Partners is “entrepreneurs investing in entrepreneurs,” and partners of the active venture firm are well known for lending deep operating experience.

Why We Participate in OPEXEngine’s Software Benchmarking

Rally Software, based in Boulder, CO, is the leader in Agile Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and IPO’ed April 2013.

use cases

Budgeting and Strategic Planning

Get the right benchmarks for your budgeting, strategic and scenario planning. Use OPEXEngine’s trusted financial and detailed operational benchmarks from your SaaS peers by revenue size, average contract size, funding levels, and more. Budget and plan for this year and 2-5 years out.

Cost Management and Operational Productivity

How does your compensation expense compare to your peers? Is your R&D expense too high? Is your Sales productivity good, great or average? You won’t get that kind of insight just by looking at your numbers. In this competitive world, you need high-quality operating benchmarks to track yourself against peers and market leaders.

Securing Funding or Sale of Company

Get the right benchmarks to position your company’s performance and operations with investors and acquirers. Make accurate comparisons with peers, not the latest unicorn. Understand where you stand BEFORE you go out to the market.

Better Communication with Operating Heads

Support data-driven conversations between Finance and operating departments when reviewing expenses, head counts, productivity and more. Replace emotion and bias with neutral benchmarks for peer companies and market leaders.

Evaluate and Improve SaaS Portfolios

Access metrics and KPIs used by hundreds of software and SaaS companies to improve performance and efficiency. Compare your portfolio companies to over 50 SaaS peer groups by revenue size, growth rates, profitability, funding, and more.

Proprietary Data for Consulting Engagements

Use proprietary data to deliver deep and actionable consulting about leveraging SaaS business model. Generate solutions for your clients that integrate best in class information about successful companies in the SaaS industry.

poll results

SaaS CFO Pulse SURVEY RESULTS

In all the areas covered in the survey, consistent metrics and benchmarks are key. Analytics won’t provide accurate analysis of the underlying data that isn’t consistent with best practices and standard definitions of operational metrics.

Remote Work & Office Space Planning (Upd. Oct ’20)

We turned to our fellow SaaS community members and asked them to share their workspace plans for the coming year. The results of this poll provide valuable insights into how SaaS & software companies are addressing these topics.

Changes in Revenue & COVID Impact on Budgeting/Planning

The purpose of this poll was to help the SaaS Finance community better understand peer YTD 2020 revenue performance and to learn more about how other companies are approaching planning for the upcoming FY budgeting process.

Remote Work and Office Space Planning

In the third of our series of SaaS Quick Polls, we asked the benchmarking community of Software and SaaS companies about whether they expect more employees to be working remotely in the new normal, and how that was affecting office space and office budget plans for the upcoming year.

Changes to SaaS Sales Quotas, Territories, & Commission Payments

OPEXEngine fielded a quick poll to the SaaS Finance community between April 2-April 14, 2020. The anonymous and confidential poll covered changes to Q2, Q3, Q4 and FY 2020 Sales Quotas, Territories and Commission payment policies.

Mar 2020 Hiring & Layoff Poll of Growth & Midsized SaaS Companies

In late March, we launched a SaaS peer community poll to see what companies are doing in light of the corona virus pandemic’s effects on 2020 budgets.