What I Learned Analyzing 100 SaaS Exits

After manually reviewing 100+ SaaS acquisitions under $1M documented on FounderSold, several clear patterns emerged.

The Multiple Story

The median profit multiple for SaaS exits is 3.9×. But averages hide the distribution. The real story:

• Bottom quartile (≤ 2.5×): High churn, no clear moat, saturated market
• Median (3.5–4.5×): Steady growth, some defensibility, clean metrics
• Top quartile (≥ 5×): Strong retention, enterprise customers, proprietary distribution

What Actually Matters for Multiples

MRR is table stakes. Every buyer knows how to value revenue. What moves the multiple:

1. Net Revenue Retention (NRR) — SaaS businesses with NRR > 100% got 1.2× more on average
2. Customer concentration — If your top customer is > 30% of revenue, expect a discount
3. Acquisition channel — SEO-driven growth commands premiums; paid channels get discounted
4. Tech debt — Solo founders who built without tests consistently got lower offers

The Platform Risk Tax

Businesses built on top of Notion, Airtable, or Slack APIs sold for 0.8× less than comparable independent SaaS. Buyers see platform dependency as existential risk.

Timing the Market

2023–2024 saw a 15% compression in multiples compared to 2021–2022. The frothy valuations of the bull market have normalized. Today's 3.9× median is probably the new baseline.

The Practical Takeaway

If you're building to sell, focus on: - Reducing churn before the exit process - Documenting acquisition channels clearly - Eliminating platform dependencies - Having 6+ months of clean financial records

The best exits in our database weren't the highest MRR — they were the cleanest businesses.