Report · 35 min read

Scaling from $1 to $10 million ARR

Janelle Teng Wade, Mary D'Onofrio and Ethan Ding · Bessemer Venture Partners Free Intermediate

Sets out exactly what a repeatable sales motion is supposed to look like by ten million dollars ARR, with the four GTM metrics investors will actually check. The right benchmark set for a company still building its ops function.

• To be growing 100 percent plus at 10M ARR you need roughly 140 percent growth the year before, because growth endurance is about 70 percent.
• Hiring milestones by ARR: sales expert by 1M, product by 2M, marketing by 4M, finance by 8M, VP People by 10M.
• Measure CAC payback quarterly at both the unit and the whole sales org level, not just blended.
• A customer is only profitable once CLTV over CAC passes 1x, which is well before the 3x you are aiming at.