{
 "what": "Operating-expense targets, % of revenue, for the annual plan of a ~300-person B2B software company",
 "source": "SEC XBRL data (data.sec.gov companyfacts), latest 10-K fiscal year ending Jan 2025 to Jan 2026, 124 US-listed SIC 7372 software companies with revenue of $100M or more",
 "built_by": "projects/opex-benchmark (pipeline/run_all.py); every figure is a view in data/opex.sqlite",
 "basis": "GAAP, so every line includes stock-based compensation",
 "targets": {
  "sm_pct": {
   "label": "Sales and marketing",
   "point": 0.3318,
   "low": 0.2092,
   "high": 0.4254,
   "band_used": "Under $1B",
   "n_companies": 63,
   "point_is": "median",
   "range_is": "25th to 75th percentile"
  },
  "rd_pct": {
   "label": "Research and development",
   "point": 0.2139,
   "low": 0.1459,
   "high": 0.2653,
   "band_used": "Under $1B",
   "n_companies": 70,
   "point_is": "median",
   "range_is": "25th to 75th percentile"
  },
  "ga_pct": {
   "label": "General and administrative",
   "point": 0.2243,
   "low": 0.1947,
   "high": 0.2823,
   "band_used": "$100M-$300M",
   "n_companies": 16,
   "point_is": "median",
   "range_is": "25th to 75th percentile"
  }
 },
 "sm_by_growth": [
  {
   "growth_third": 1,
   "median_growth": 0.0153,
   "median_sm_pct": 0.236,
   "n": 37
  },
  {
   "growth_third": 2,
   "median_growth": 0.1451,
   "median_sm_pct": 0.3272,
   "n": 40
  },
  {
   "growth_third": 3,
   "median_growth": 0.2581,
   "median_sm_pct": 0.3727,
   "n": 38
  }
 ],
 "rd_by_growth": [
  {
   "growth_third": 1,
   "median_growth": 0.0153,
   "median_rd_pct": 0.1682,
   "n": 42
  },
  {
   "growth_third": 2,
   "median_growth": 0.1451,
   "median_rd_pct": 0.2189,
   "n": 41
  },
  {
   "growth_third": 3,
   "median_growth": 0.2581,
   "median_rd_pct": 0.2669,
   "n": 41
  }
 ],
 "context_under_1b": {
  "gross_margin_median": 0.7243,
  "operating_margin_gaap_median": -0.0497,
  "sbc_pct_median": 0.1185,
  "n": 70
 },
 "why_these_bands": "Below $5B of revenue, S&M and R&D shares do not move with size (rank correlation 0.01 and 0.18), so they use all companies under $1B: more companies, and the $100M-$300M band alone is mostly slow growers. G&A falls with size (-0.67 below $5B), so it uses the smallest band.",
 "rejected": "All-company medians: they include megacaps whose G&A share is about a third of a small company's.",
 "caveats": [
  "Public companies are bigger than a 300-person company: the smallest one here, SOUNDTHINKING, INC., had $104M of revenue. A smaller company's G&A share is likely at or above the top of the range, because G&A falls with size.",
  "GAAP lines include stock-based compensation (median 11.8% of revenue under $1B). A private company paying less in stock shows lower GAAP expense for the same headcount.",
  "The three medians come from different companies, so they do not add up to one real company. Under $1B, the median GAAP operating margin is -5.0% and the median gross margin 72.4%.",
  "S&M and R&D both rise with growth (G&A does not); sm_by_growth and rd_by_growth give the median share for slow, middle and fast growers. Both points assume growth in the low to mid teens."
 ],
 "fiscal_years": {
  "earliest_end": "2025-01-31",
  "latest_end": "2026-01-31"
 },
 "fiscal_year_sensitivity": {
  "companies_changing_year": 12,
  "sm_pct_median": 0.3356,
  "rd_pct_median": 0.2139,
  "ga_pct_median": 0.2243,
  "rule": "fiscal year with the most days in calendar 2025; groups by the base year's revenue"
 }
}