In this edition of Pilot Insights, we take a look at revenue per employee.
WhatsApp had ~$7m of revenue per employee at the time of its acquisition. How do startups today compare?
We looked at Pilot.com’s dataset to get some answers:
First, the average company isn’t anywhere near as efficient as WhatsApp was. The median company generates only ~$75k in annual revenue per employee. Top-tier companies (90th percentile on productivity) generate $594k of revenue per employee, and the bottom 10% a mere ~$3k per employee.
How can you improve this number? In some ways the options are simple: you have to either improve revenue (if only it were this simple!) or reduce the size of your team. In particular, ask yourself: are there features customers are asking for that could be part of more premium plans? Are there opportunities to introduce a new product that can be cross-sold to the existing base? Are you making sure that customers are getting the most out of your offering so that they get more value (and use more)?
On the expenses side: are there routine tasks that can be automated? Are there opportunities to consolidate roles in a way that will enable a better customer experience?