Help desk software is an extremely competitive space, and for good reason. Great customer service is critical for any business looking to succeed in the long-term and help desk solutions make scaling simple.
HelpScout was developed to help businesses deliver a personal touch at scale. Their help desk software is built for customer-first teams and is on a mission to make every customer interaction more helpful and human.
How much is HelpScout doing in MRR?
HelpScout is a pure-play SaaS business that charges its customers on a per seat, per month basis. Their average customer uses 7 seats per month and generates $140 in revenue.
According to CEO Nick Francis, HelpScout is currently serving 9,000 total paying customers and is doing around $1.3M in MRR today. The company has exhibited steady growth over the last 3 years, growing revenue 60% YoY each year. Pricing based on number of seats, HelpScout is driving growth both through expansion revenue and adding new logos.
What is HelpScout’s churn?
Due to the nature of help desk software, their are typically high switching costs involved with changing solutions. HelpScout has taken advantage of this and is currently exhibiting less than 1% gross logo and revenue churn per month right now.
HelpScout aims for payback within 12 months and is willing to spend up to $1,600 to acquire a new customer, according to Francis. In terms of their lifetime value models, the company assumes a customer will stay with them for a maximum of three years.
How much has HelpScout raised?
Founded in 2011, HelpScout is a TechStars Boston alum and has raised $12M in total outside capital thus far with the latest round coming back in 2015. Francis noted that the company is operating at breakeven at this point in time and has no intentions of raising additional capital.
Going forward, HelpScout’s team of 80 remote employees is gearing up to land larger contracts. While 92% of the company’s revenue comes from their self-service channel today, they’ve invested significantly in developing an inside sales team to land deals north of 10 users.
