Our high level metrics for @buffer for December 2017:
- MRR: $1,396,138
- ARR: $16,753,656
- 78,153 paying customers
- 4.94% churn rate
- $239,299 revenue per employee
- $5,293,484 cash in bank
- 87.74% gross margin
I'll thread a few Tweets to share some 2017/2018 reflections.
- MRR: $1,396,138
- ARR: $16,753,656
- 78,153 paying customers
- 4.94% churn rate
- $239,299 revenue per employee
- $5,293,484 cash in bank
- 87.74% gross margin
I'll thread a few Tweets to share some 2017/2018 reflections.
We grew our bank balance by over $3.3m in 2017, starting at around $2m. This was a huge accomplishment for the whole team. In addition, we had net income (profit) of over $2.5m, turning things around completely from a loss in 2016. Couldn't be more proud of this team.
2017 was a challenging year for us. The overall theme was company and financial stability, and we absolutely achieved that. In 2016 we had a cash crisis and layoffs, and at the beginning of 2017 two key leaders left the company. We really pulled together and are now thriving.
We didn't grow the team too much in 2017, and this can be seen in the numbers. A number of folks left voluntarily, so our team size shrunk slightly. We're now growing again, in a very deliberate and healthy way. 3 new team members in Dec/Jan 🎉
In 2017 we made Buffer fully self-sustaining, and established a foundation to grow significantly from here. In December, we decided to acknowledge and reward the entire team for their contribution to our success with a profit sharing bonus for the first time in Buffer’s history.
We distributed $300k to the team, a relatively small portion of profits and very small % of revenues, with a simple and fair formula. We also put aside $50k to make our first ever charitable contribution as a company. We're having a collaborative process to decide where it goes.
A note for anyone with a very keen eye: our overall EBITDA margin for the year was 19% and due to our profit sharing + charitable contribution, it is at 6.5% for December.
The overall focus of 2018 is on customers, to increase the value they receive from Buffer’s suite of products which we will launch and integrate with each other throughout the year, to create an overall product group which widens our footprint in the market.
We're in the midst of expanding and integrating @bufferreply into the main @buffer experience (still as a separate workflow and billing), and we're just about ready for very very early customers for our @BufferAnalyze MVP.
On the personal side, I’ve enjoyed taking a more sustainable approach to the company and my role in the second half of 2017. I took more weekend trips and a couple of vacations to go back to hobbies in skiing, climbing & surfing, which I largely neglected over the Buffer journey.
I've found that by being more balanced, I have been more productive and focused in the time I spend on Buffer during the week.
Despite this now being my 8th year of working on Buffer, I feel more excited than I ever have before about where we can go from here and the impact we can have for customers, the team and as a positive example in the industry.
Thanks for reading - reply with any questions, I'll try to respond!
