ChartMogul

“In 2025, SaaS success will hinge on investing in the buyer experience. Those neglecting it will face a self-fulfilling prophecy of decline, leading to reduced sales force sizes, more AI-guided selling, lower quality deals and increased buyer remorse. A golden opportunity awaits those prioritizing human connection and value. These companies will attract top talent, deliver exceptional experiences, and ultimately dominate the market.” 🧭Zachary Gropper, CEO of Insight Revenue. We asked 25 SaaS founders, operators, and investors to share their thoughts on the trends, challenges, and shifts that will shape the industry in the coming year. Check out all the predictions: https://lnkd.in/e3dW9H4v

𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸: 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱? ✨ As 2024 ends, fresh ChartMogul data reveals a mixed bag for SaaS growth. While most segments experienced flat growth, mid-ARPA companies saw slight recoveries. Early-stage startups, however, continue to struggle with growth, particularly due to slower new business acquisition. Four key insights: 🛑 Growth is going to be slower for early-stage startups Companies with ARR below $300K recorded the lowest growth rate in Q4, 19%. Similarly, businesses with <$25 ARPA saw their growth drop from 23% at the start of the year to 15% by year end. The <25$ ARPA segment includes many B2C companies but also many early stage startups with <$300K ARR. Customer retention remains stable for both segments, suggesting that the primary driver of growth deceleration is the lag in new customer acquisition. With increased competition in SaaS, growth rates are likely to face continued pressure in 2025 as acquiring new customers becomes more challenging. 🚀 Mid-ARPA segments accelerated growth in 2024 Companies with $100–250 ARPA improved growth by 4 percentage points (pp), ending the year at nearly 28%. Top performers in this segment also saw a 13pp improvement, ending the year at 81%. With retention metrics remaining flat, stronger new business acquisition likely drove this growth. After bottoming out at 22% in late 2023, companies with $250–500 ARPA bounced back, finishing 2024 with a 30% growth rate. This is likely due to improved new customer acquisition, given the slight declines in customer retention and gross revenue retention during 2024. 🏋️ High-ARPA companies face unexpected struggles Companies in the $500–1k ARPA range recorded their lowest-ever median growth rate (23%) in Q4. The top quartile NRR fell below 100% (98%), highlighting challenges in upselling even among high-performing businesses. An NRR decline, could partially explain why this segment saw their growth rate at the end of 2024. Companies with >$1k ARPA ended Q4 with their lowest growth rate in years (31%). Despite GRR improving by 4pp to 79% throughout 2024, retention gains could not offset challenges in acquiring new customers. With reports on longer sales cycles, high-ARPA companies may continue to face headwinds in 2025. 🟰 Flat growth across most ARR segments, with retention metrics varying Most ARR segments experienced stable growth in 2024 but retention metrics varied. While companies in the $15–30M ARR range faced slight declines in NRR and other metrics, most segments maintained flat retention and $8–15M ARR businesses saw some improvements, particularly in GRR. With churn prevention as a key focus in 2024, many SaaS companies are trying to lay a solid foundation for a resilient 2025. What trends do you think will define SaaS growth in 2025? #SaaS #startups #chartmogul #growth #data

𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸: 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱? ✨ As 2024 ends, fresh ChartMogul data reveals a mixed bag for SaaS growth. While most segments experienced flat growth, mid-ARPA companies saw slight recoveries. Early-stage startups, however, continue to struggle with growth, particularly due to slower new business acquisition. Four key insights: 🛑 Growth is going to be slower for early-stage startups Companies with ARR below $300K recorded the lowest growth rate in Q4, 19%. Similarly, businesses with <$25 ARPA saw their growth drop from 23% at the start of the year to 15% by year end. The <25$ ARPA segment includes many B2C companies but also many early stage startups with <$300K ARR. Customer retention remains stable for both segments, suggesting that the primary driver of growth deceleration is the lag in new customer acquisition. With increased competition in SaaS, growth rates are likely to face continued pressure in 2025 as acquiring new customers becomes more challenging. 🚀 Mid-ARPA segments accelerated growth in 2024 Companies with $100–250 ARPA improved growth by 4 percentage points (pp), ending the year at nearly 28%. Top performers in this segment also saw a 13pp improvement, ending the year at 81%. With retention metrics remaining flat, stronger new business acquisition likely drove this growth. After bottoming out at 22% in late 2023, companies with $250–500 ARPA bounced back, finishing 2024 with a 30% growth rate. This is likely due to improved new customer acquisition, given the slight declines in customer retention and gross revenue retention during 2024. 🏋️ High-ARPA companies face unexpected struggles Companies in the $500–1k ARPA range recorded their lowest-ever median growth rate (23%) in Q4. The top quartile NRR fell below 100% (98%), highlighting challenges in upselling even among high-performing businesses. An NRR decline, could partially explain why this segment saw their growth rate at the end of 2024. Companies with >$1k ARPA ended Q4 with their lowest growth rate in years (31%). Despite GRR improving by 4pp to 79% throughout 2024, retention gains could not offset challenges in acquiring new customers. With reports on longer sales cycles, high-ARPA companies may continue to face headwinds in 2025. 🟰 Flat growth across most ARR segments, with retention metrics varying Most ARR segments experienced stable growth in 2024 but retention metrics varied. While companies in the $15–30M ARR range faced slight declines in NRR and other metrics, most segments maintained flat retention and $8–15M ARR businesses saw some improvements, particularly in GRR. With churn prevention as a key focus in 2024, many SaaS companies are trying to lay a solid foundation for a resilient 2025. What trends do you think will define SaaS growth in 2025? #SaaS #startups #chartmogul #growth #data

SaaS is dead! That's why we signed up 9 new paying SaaS customers in the first 3 days of 2025! Excited to keep making 🏦 from this dead industry in 2025 ✌ ...cue "oh but we didn't say it's dead yet" from folks who've never built a significant SaaS business in the comments

Does you product have a natural growth loop? 🤔 If so, a freemium plan could be worth considering. Check out the full panel: https://lnkd.in/e2rUkiA5

A recent comment by Jason M. Lemkin about what he calls “hyperfunctional SaaS” really struck a chord with me. His premise? In SaaS in 2024/2025, simply delivering some value isn’t enough. You need to deliver way more value, which means way more features, and a broader solution, to stay competitive. As Jason puts it: “It’s a lot more work, and harder to build than before. For often the same deal and deal size. Step up — or step aside.” This aligns closely with my own thinking. At our recent team offsite, I presented the idea that we at ChartMogul are needfully building a “Beautifully Complex SaaS” (as opposed to a "Beautifully Simple SaaS"). In the slides I drew comparisons to various 3D animation packages I learned back in the early 2000s. These tools (like my personal favorite Cinema 4D) were feature-rich by necessity. To create immersive 3D animated films, artists need an enormous array of features. And over time, these platforms built strong moats as professionals developed expertise in them. 34 years after its initial release Cinema 4D is still thriving, constantly improving while retaining their tactile and user-friendly UI. At ChartMogul, we’re embracing this same challenge by building a “Beautifully Complex SaaS” (or as Jason says, a “hyperfunctional SaaS”). Our goal is to deliver a broad, feature-rich platform that solves the very hard problems associated with Subscription Analytics and CRM — while remaining cleanly architected and offering an exceptional user experience. The takeaway? There are no shortcuts when building this sort of SaaS. Every decision must be made with the long term in mind, and I think we're going to see more of these SaaS companies emerge out of necessity but also out of the passion of founders and teams to create something truly great. What’s your take? Are you seeing this shift toward complexity in SaaS?

Another day and...you guessed it...another feature release just went live in ChartMogul 🚀 🙌 ChartMogul users can now add Dropdown select fields (aka "Picklists") to their Customer, Contact, or Opportunity objects. This attribute type is very useful for ensuring clean data that can be used for reporting later. I think that's why Sara Archer has been asking for this since we launched ChartMogul CRM last year 😄 Some common uses for the Dropdown select field type: 💀 Loss reason (for Opportunities) ❌ Churn reason (for Customers) 🌇 Industry (for Customers)

Another day and...you guessed it...another feature release just went live in ChartMogul 🚀 🙌 ChartMogul users can now add Dropdown select fields (aka "Picklists") to their Customer, Contact, or Opportunity objects. This attribute type is very useful for ensuring clean data that can be used for reporting later. I think that's why Sara Archer has been asking for this since we launched ChartMogul CRM last year 😄 Some common uses for the Dropdown select field type: 💀 Loss reason (for Opportunities) ❌ Churn reason (for Customers) 🌇 Industry (for Customers)

History of code commits at ChartMogul 🔥🔥 We're just getting started! 🚀🚀

In 2024 ChartMogul's Customer Success team... – Solved 8,000 support tickets with a median first reply time of 18 minutes – Ran 128 onboarding and training calls – Edited 208 help center articles and published 26 new ones – Achieved a CSAT score of 97.7% 🤯 Great work by Ingmar Zahorsky and his hard working team 👏 (Photo is of the Success team at our offsite in Oct – almost complete, just one member of the team couldn't make it)