Revenue per employee at top-performing software companies has nearly tripled since 2018. The 90th percentile of companies in that dataset is now approaching $700,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR) per employee.
The 75th percentile has nearly doubled since 2018, to roughly $350,000, according to a January analysis published by Jason Lemkin, founder of SaaStr, a community of B2B software founders, citing data from venture firm a16z.
The analysis names several standout private companies that are shattering traditional efficiency benchmarks. (Figures are approximate)
- Cursor: $3.3 million ARR per employee ($1 billion ARR, ~300 employees)
- Midjourney: $3–$5 million per employee ($500 million ARR, 100–160 employees)
- Lovable: $2 million per employee ($200 million ARR, ~100 employees)
Among publicly traded B2B software companies, the analysis shows more modest but still impressive figures.
- Salesforce: $480,000 ARR per employee
- Snowflake: $480,000 per employee
- ServiceNow: $460,000 per employee
- Workday: $450,000 per employee
- Datadog: $430,000 per employee
- CrowdStrike: $410,000 per employee
- HubSpot: $320,000 per employee
Companies once held up as the gold standard for workforce efficiency, such as Salesforce, ServiceNow and Workday, are now positioned closer to the middle of the new range than the top of it. The analysis also found that larger companies are not losing efficiency as they scale, with evidence that companies with more than $250 million in ARR are generating nearly $500,000 per employee.
The gap between typical and top-performing companies has also widened. The analysis states that the difference between the 50th and 90th percentile of revenue per employee has grown from roughly 2x in 2018 to roughly 3.5x today.
As revenue per employee climbs at the top end of software, leaders across finance, operations and HR are under more pressure to prove that every function is contributing to efficiency, not just growth. For HR, that can mean sharper scrutiny of headcount, tighter expectations around productivity and a heavier burden to connect workforce investments to business outcomes.
A reflection on HR
This data comes from venture capital research tracking SaaS company performance, not from workforce analytics, but the themes square with decisions HR leaders already make, including headcount approvals, role design and the pace of hiring.
While software companies are redefining workforce efficiency, HR function budgets across all industries have not moved at anything close to this speed. Gartner’s 2026 CHRO Budget Benchmarks show median HR spend at 0.67% of revenue, or $2,799 per employee annually, a figure that remains relatively flat across industries. As finance teams and boards expect gains at the pace seen in top software companies, HR leaders may face increased pressure to justify headcount requests against a benchmark that has not kept pace.
Credit: Source link
