We track the return on sales and marketing spend of all the SaaS companies that went public since October 2017, starting with MongoDB. The dataset encompasses 75 SaaS companies, of which 57 still trade. The return on S&M is calculated simply as the dollar growth in revenue divided by S&M spend in a particular year. For instance, if revenue grows by $20mm and S&M spend was $40mm, then the return on S&M spend is $0.50 for every dollar of spend. If a company’s revenue did not grow, they’re excluded from the analysis. The data is below.
Steadiness of return. On median the typical SaaS company in 2025 generated $0.44 of new revenue for every dollar of S&M spend. On average the figure is $0.49. Both figures have held remarkably steady over the past three years, so the return on S&M spend isn’t really changing in SaaS.
Profitable vs unprofitable companies. For profitable companies, the median was $0.48 in 2025, and has been very volatile ($0.48 in 2025, $0.28 in 2024, and $0.42 in 2023); that’s a level of inconsistency we frankly cannot explain, especially since the averages remained consistent. Unprofitable companies, which are faster growing at 22% YOY on median, had a median of $0.43 in 2025, in line with prior years.
Profitable vs unprofitable gap is smaller than you’d expect. Profitable companies returned $0.48 per dollar of S&M versus $0.43 for unprofitable ones; that’s only a $0.05 difference. Given that profitable companies grow slower in2025 (13% vs 22%), you might expect them to be dramatically more efficient with S&M. They’re not. The faster-growing unprofitable cohort is getting nearly the same return while growing almost twice as fast.
If you’re running at $0.44 or above, you’re in line with where the best SaaS companies in the world operate
Thank you for your readership. See more blogs and SaaS data at blossomstreetventures.com. Other resources we’ve built for founders include: SoftwareMultiples.com; softwareMRRcalculator.com; FounderInvited.com, and TwoFoundersTalk.com. Founders are always welcome to reach out to sammy@blossomstreetventures.com as well.
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