What the Data Shows About SaaS Exits

A few patterns stand out in the SaaS sales documented on FounderSold. The figures are recalculated from the database every time this page loads (data as of November 14, 2026).

The Multiple Story

The median profit multiple for SaaS sales is 2.8× (21 sales with a disclosed multiple). Across all categories it is 2.5× over 105 sales. Medians hide the distribution: the middle half of all sales falls between 1.7× and 3.0× profit.

Medians by Category

• Content/Media: median 2.25× (40 sales)
• SaaS: median 2.8× (21 sales)
• E-commerce: median 1.5× (17 sales)
• Developer Tools: median 2.7× (9 sales)
• AI/ML: median 2.45× (6 sales)

What Usually Matters for Multiples

MRR is table stakes. Every buyer knows how to value revenue. What tends to move the multiple (general market practice, not measured in this dataset):

1. Net Revenue Retention (NRR), revenue that expands without new customers is worth more
2. Customer concentration, if your top customer is a large share 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 tend to get lower offers

Timing the Market

Median profit multiple by year of sale, for years with at least 5 sales with a disclosed multiple:

• 2020: median 2.7× (8 sales)
• 2021: median 2.0× (5 sales)
• 2022: median 3.0× (6 sales)
• 2023: median 2.8× (16 sales)
• 2024: median 2.7× (16 sales)
• 2026: median 1.8× (34 sales)

Samples are small, so treat the swings with caution.

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.

Explore the full dataset at FounderSold to see these patterns in real exits.