Just lately, I used to be on the HR Heretics podcast and we talked concerning the growing effectivity of software program firms (along with different matters together with the implications of AI for executives, the right way to diligence a candidate, & what board members count on of their individuals leaders).
I noticed It has been a decade since I’ve up to date revenue-per-employee metrics.
Listed below are the tendencies throughout the group of 13 publicly traded software program & infrastructure firms (that are the quickest growers or most-highly valued) over the past 5 quarters.
Income per worker spans roughly $200k-$900k. Datadog tops the record, probably pushed by their super cross-selling ability.
Snowflake is second, pushed by their best-in-class internet greenback retention (NDR). Each these firms additionally give attention to enterprise accounts – in distinction to Invoice.com on the backside, which targets small companies.
Evaluate that to the benchmarks in 2013! Along with the dated charts!
In 2013, the common income per worker of those firms totaled $200k. At the moment, that quantity is $470k for the basket of firms above, a 135% enchancment.
Normalizing for inflation (which was 34% throughout this previous decade), fashionable companies produce 2x extra RPE than their decade outdated selves.
| Firm | RPE 2013, $okay | RPE 2023, $okay | CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRM | 325 | 375 | 1.4% |
| VEEV | 200 | 880 | 15.9% |
| WDAY | 120 | 427 | 13.5% |
| NOW | 143 | 502 | 13.3% |
Most firms within the picture have been acquired. The 4 horses of the earlier decade that also run free, I’ve listed above. RPE for the highest 3 grew at 13-16%.
Salesforce barely budged, maybe an indicator of how labor-intensive the enterprise is or how a lot the income development has been via acquisition (Slack, Mulesoft, & Tableau).
In 2023, these firms added about $37k in income per worker, however the vary spans $18-71k.
Over their lifespans, these firms have added about $30k in income per worker per 12 months.
Utilizing a linear estimator, we are able to plot the common income per worker per 12 months for a hypothetical public firm.
The fact is most firms don’t develop revenue-per-employee per 12 months linearly.
The info suggests income per worker development is zero dring product growth. Then the corporate enters a interval of hyper development throughout which it scales quickly, roughly 50-60% yearly.
| Yr within the Firm’s Life | Estimated RPE Progress | Notice |
|---|---|---|
| 0-2 | Product Improvement | 0% |
| 2-8 | Hyper-growth | 50-100% |
| 8-15 | Public firm | 30% |
| 15 + | Late-stage public | 15% |
For these publicly traded firms, there’s a sluggish decline in development fee however the mixture of product-market match & the chance to develop the product portfolio permits them to maintain increasing income per worker at enticing charges.
I ponder what tendencies we’ll see in 2033. Maybe one other doubling (driven by AI!)
