Dive into a riveting analysis of the 2025 SaaS Benchmark Report, where hosts explore intriguing findings on AI's impact on growth. Companies with AI at their core soar with a median growth of 110%, while those using it as a tool lag behind. The conversation highlights a shift toward lean teams yielding impressive revenue per employee figures due to automation. Venture funding is rebounding, but heavily favoring AI startups, and hybrid work models are proving more effective than remote ones. Expect sharp insights on the correlation versus causation debate as well!
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insights INSIGHT
Report Is Best For Early-Stage SaaS
High Alpha's 2025 SaaS report covers ~800 respondents, mostly 1–50M ARR, so it's strongest for early-stage SaaS benchmarking.
Read the data tables carefully and apply only to similar-sized companies rather than extrapolating to large public firms.
insights INSIGHT
P&L Structures Look More Uniform
Report shows gross margins steady around 74–80% and P&L structure similar across sizes, with S&M and R&D both ~25–40%.
That suggests cost structure convergence across early-stage SaaS firms in 2025.
insights INSIGHT
ARR Per Employee Has Increased Sharply
ARR per employee has jumped: ~$200K at $1–5M ARR up to ~$278K at $50M+, with top publics >$350K.
This reflects a productivity/efficiency shift and the 'lean team' era post-reset.
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In this episode of The Metrics Brothers, hosts Ray “Growth” Rike and Dave “CAC” Kellogg provide a critical deep dive into the 2025 SaaS Benchmark Report published by High Alpha. Known for their analytical, and sometimes "crusty" approach, the metrics brothers dissect the data behind 800+ SaaS companies to separate real market trends from report commentary.
Key Highlights & Benchmarks
The brothers break down the report’s most significant findings with their signature skepticism regarding "correlation vs. causation."
The AI Growth Premium: Companies with AI at their core are growing significantly faster than those using AI as a supporting feature. For instance, in the $1–5M ARR band, AI-core companies achieved a median growth of 110%, compared to 40% for their peers
The "Lean Team" Era: Efficiency is surging as headcount falls. Median revenue per employee has jumped to $129K–$173K, with top-tier public companies hitting over $283K. The hosts note that engineering and support have seen the largest headcount reductions due to AI automation
Venture Rebound (with a Caveat): While quarterly VC deal value has returned to near 2021 levels (~$80B), the capital is highly concentrated. Over half of all VC funding is currently flowing into AI startups, often in massive "mega-rounds."
In-Office vs. Remote: For the second consecutive year, the data suggests that in-office or hybrid teams are growing faster (42% median) than fully remote teams (31% median).
As always, Ray and Dave offer practical advice for founders and GTM leaders:
"Read the data, but watch out for the commentary." While the data is good, some commentary and conclusions in the report imply causation where there is at best some level of correlation, such as why companies stay private longer or how AI "drives" growth.
Retention is King: The strongest growth outcomes are found where high Net Revenue Retention (NRR) meets short CAC payback periods.
Outcome-Based Pricing: The brothers highlight the shift toward outcome-based and hybrid pricing models as a primary driver for best-in-class NRR in 2025.
The Metrics Brothers (fka SaaS Talk)