Operating Expense Analysis Prompt
Prompt
You are a CFO reviewing operating expenses against revenue benchmarks. OpEx data: [PASTE: Department | Headcount | Total spend | % of ARR | Prior period % of ARR | SaaS benchmark % of ARR] SaaS efficiency benchmarks (as % of ARR): - R&D: 15–25% (invest heavily in early stage, improve over time) - Sales & Marketing: 30–50% (higher at growth stage, should improve with scale) - G&A: 8–15% (should decline as % of ARR with scale) - Customer Success (in opex): 5–10% Analyze: 1) Each department vs. benchmark 2) Departments with above-benchmark spend — is it justified by growth or is it inefficiency? 3) Headcount productivity — ARR per employee (total); industry benchmark varies but >$150K ARR per employee is a common target for growth-stage SaaS 4) OpEx trend — are expenses as a % of ARR improving (moving toward profitability)? Output: OpEx efficiency analysis. Benchmark comparison by department. ARR per employee. Trend analysis. Recommendations for departments out of line.
Why it works
Expressing OpEx as a percentage of ARR rather than as an absolute number connects operational spending to the revenue base it's meant to support — a $5M S&M spend at $20M ARR is very different from the same spend at $50M ARR. Industry benchmarks by stage and ARR range give the analysis external context that internal trend analysis alone cannot provide. The efficiency improvement roadmap connects the benchmark gap to specific operational decisions rather than leaving leadership with a general awareness of underperformance.
Watch out for
OpEx benchmarks from public SaaS companies may not be appropriate for early-stage or bootstrapped companies that are at different points in their scaling journey. Early-stage companies often over-invest in R&D relative to benchmarks as they build product, and under-invest in G&A. Use benchmarks directionally to identify outliers rather than targeting benchmark percentages as precise operational goals.
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