Moving upmarket: how listed software companies define it

01

Where upmarket starts at twelve listed software companies

Six of these companies set the line at what a customer pays, and Udemy sets it at company size. Intapp names a segment without a number, and ZoomInfo reports a share of contract value without stating where the line is. Paychex, Block and N-able describe the move without a line.

These measures are not directly comparable. Thryv's $400 is monthly recurring revenue, Flywire's $100,000 is its own revenue from a client over twelve months, and the other dollar lines use annual measures. A share of contract value, a customer count and a customer-size threshold answer different questions.

02

Reading an upmarket share

ZoomInfo, Freshworks, Udemy, Flywire and Thryv report a share: of contract value, of ARR, of Udemy Business revenue, of revenue in two verticals, of SaaS revenue. The share can rise because customers above the line grow faster than the rest, or because customers below it leave. Read it next to the count or value above the line. Freshworks and Backblaze also give the year before: 22,558 customers above $5,000 at the end of 2024, and $15 million of ARR above $50,000.

03

ZoomInfo's move over one year

ZoomInfo told investors that 72% of its annual contract value (ACV) was Upmarket at the end of June 2025 (8-K, 4 Aug 2025); a year later the share was 76%.

Over that period, it disclosed two restructuring programmes. The first, in June 2025, cut approximately 6% of employees "to support the Company’s broader efforts to move upmarket and support durable and efficient growth", with restructuring charges of $4.6 million for the year (10-K for 2025). The second, approved in May 2026, is anticipated to entail a reduction of approximately 600 employees, about 20% of headcount, "in order to reduce operating costs and drive stronger operating leverage" (10-Q for the second quarter of 2026). The email to all employees from Henry Schuck that ZoomInfo filed with an 8-K says: "We are simplifying our operations, accelerating our move upmarket, and reducing the resources we allocate downmarket."

ZoomInfo also tells investors that over the long term it expects net revenue retention to be influenced by its ability to move upmarket, "as larger customers have historically exhibited higher net revenue retention". The 10-Q gives that rate as 89% at the end of June in both 2025 and 2026, and revenue for the second quarter of 2026 as $310.4 million against $306.7 million a year earlier, an increase it puts down "primarily" to "the Company’s continued shift of the mix of business upmarket". The filings do not separate what the staff cuts, the shift in customers and the market each did to these numbers.

04

What the other companies filed alongside the move

Udemy names a risk on the selling side. Its 10-K says "our average sales cycle may lengthen as we focus more on our UB Large Customers", the companies with at least 1,000 employees, which "tend to have longer procurement processes than smaller customers". It also reports net dollar retention of 97% for those customers at the end of 2025, against 93% for Udemy Business as a whole.

Others put sales or spending changes in writing. Block is "empowering our sales team to sell Square upmarket" and hiring field sales staff. Paychex says its purchase of Paycor "aims to enhance the Company’s capabilities upmarket, expand its sales force" (10-K for fiscal 2025). Backblaze expects to increase capital expenditures to support its up-market transformation (10-K for 2025).

05

Questions for a board's upmarket number

1. Where is the line, in what the customer pays or in the customer's size, and is it stated in the report?

2. Which measure will the company report for that line, and what was the comparable figure a year ago?

3. Is the share reported next to the count or the value above the line?

4. Which decisions taken alongside the move, such as staff cuts, sales hires, an acquisition or capital spending, appear in the same report?

Choosing that line for one company is the kind of decision my executive advisory for founders and CEOs is for.