| name | benchmarking-report |
| description | Creates industry benchmarking reports comparing business metrics against standards and best-in-class performers. Use when evaluating where your business stands versus peers. |
| allowed-tools | Read Write Glob |
| metadata | {"author":"matthewhitcham","version":"1.0"} |
Benchmarking Report
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when you need to:
- Compare your business metrics against industry averages
- Identify performance gaps relative to best-in-class competitors
- Set realistic targets based on external benchmarks
- Create a benchmarking report for investors, board, or internal planning
DO NOT use this skill for competitive intelligence gathering, financial auditing, or market research. This is for comparing your metrics against known benchmarks.
Core Principle
BENCHMARKS PROVIDE CONTEXT, NOT ANSWERS — A METRIC BELOW BENCHMARK IS A SIGNAL TO INVESTIGATE, NOT AUTOMATICALLY A PROBLEM TO FIX.
Phase 1: Brief
Required Inputs
| Input | What to Ask | Default |
|---|
| Industry | "What industry are you in?" | Must be provided |
| Business model | "SaaS, e-commerce, services, marketplace, or other?" | Must be provided |
| Metrics to benchmark | "Which metrics do you want to compare? (growth rate, margins, churn, CAC, conversion)" | Core financial + growth metrics |
| Your current numbers | "Share your current performance for each metric." | Must be provided |
| Company stage | "What stage? (pre-revenue, early, growth, mature)" | Early stage |
| Peer group | "Any specific companies or cohort you want to benchmark against?" | Industry averages |
GATE: Confirm brief and metrics list before proceeding.
Phase 2: Research
Benchmark Sources
Pull benchmarks from these source types (note the source for every number):
- Industry reports (SaaS Benchmarks, Shopify reports, etc.)
- Public company filings (for mature business comparisons)
- Aggregated survey data (OpenView, ChartMogul, ProfitWell)
- Accelerator/VC published benchmarks (YC, a16z, First Round)
Benchmark Categories
- Growth metrics — revenue growth rate, customer growth, MRR expansion
- Unit economics — CAC, LTV, CAC:LTV ratio, payback period
- Retention — churn rate, net revenue retention, logo retention
- Profitability — gross margin, operating margin, burn rate
- Efficiency — revenue per employee, magic number, Rule of 40
GATE: Present the benchmark data with sources and confirm before comparing to user's metrics.
Phase 3: Build
Deliverables
1. Benchmarking Scorecard
| Metric | Your Number | Industry Median | Top Quartile | Status |
|---|
| Annual growth | 40% | 25% | 80% | Above median |
| Gross margin | 65% | 70% | 85% | Below median |
| Monthly churn | 5% | 3% | 1.5% | Below median |
2. Gap Analysis
For each metric below median:
- How far below and what that means in dollar terms
- Likely causes based on company context
- Specific improvement strategies
3. Strength Recognition
For each metric above median:
- What is driving the strong performance
- How to protect and extend the advantage
4. Target-Setting Recommendations
- 12-month targets per metric based on realistic improvement trajectories
- Priority ranking: which gaps to close first for maximum business impact
Phase 4: Polish
Report Formatting
Present in a format appropriate for the audience:
- Investor deck: 2-3 slides with scorecard and narrative
- Internal planning: Full report with gap analysis and action plan
- Board meeting: Executive summary with top 3 strengths and top 3 gaps
Update Schedule
Benchmarks shift over time. Recommend re-running the analysis:
- Annually for stable industries
- Semi-annually for fast-moving sectors
- After major business model changes
Example 1: SaaS Startup (Series A stage)
Benchmarks used: OpenView SaaS Benchmarks, ChartMogul medians
Key finding: Growth rate above median but churn is 2x the benchmark — growth is masking a retention problem.
Example 2: E-commerce Brand (2 years old, $1M revenue)
Benchmarks used: Shopify commerce data, industry gross margin ranges
Key finding: AOV above benchmark, conversion rate below — pricing is strong but site experience needs work.
Anti-Patterns
- Comparing apples to oranges — a bootstrapped 5-person company should not benchmark against a VC-funded 200-person company. Match the peer group.
- Using outdated benchmarks — 2019 SaaS benchmarks do not reflect post-2020 market reality. Use the most recent data available.
- Benchmark worship — being below a benchmark is a signal to investigate, not a guarantee something is wrong. Context matters.
- Ignoring your strengths — fixating on gaps while ignoring above-benchmark performance misses the strategic picture.
- Too many metrics — benchmarking 30 metrics dilutes focus. Pick the 5-8 that matter most for your stage and model.
Recovery
- No benchmark data for the niche: Use adjacent industry benchmarks and note the approximation. Something is better than nothing.
- All metrics below benchmark: Prioritize the 1-2 metrics with the highest revenue impact. Fix those first.
- User disputes the benchmarks: Discuss the source and methodology. Offer multiple sources for triangulation.
- Benchmarks make the user feel behind: Reframe — benchmarks show the path, not the finish line. Most companies are below median on something.
