Inside Buffer’s February Results: Growth, Profitability & The Rule of 40

February might be the shortest month of the year, but we made every day count. Here’s a look at our latest results:

February at a Glance

📈 MRR: $1,750,702 (+1.60%)

📊 ARR: $21,008,424 (+1.60%)

👥 Customers: 62,945 (+1.73%)

⚡️ MAU: 177,148 (+1.49%)

💰 Net Income: $119,212

🏦 Bank Balance: $3,539,572 (-0.24%)

Key Highlights

• We added over 1,000 customers for the third straight month, a milestone we haven’t seen since 2017. This is a direct result of our down-and-wide strategy (more on this below).
• Revenue grew despite the shorter month, up $21K month-over-month and 14.8% year-over-year—a rare February increase.
• Profitability remains strong. We finished February with $119K in net income, marking our third month above $100K in the past four months. Our EBITDA margin reached 9.53%, the highest since May 2021. (EBITDA is a key measure of profitability which is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization—more on that below.)
• We repurchased 117,000 shares ($314K), leading to a small cash decline, but our financial position remains strong. Total cash receipts reached $1.829M, and operating cash flow came in at $306K, a solid result for a 28-day month.

What is Buffer’s Down and Wide Strategy?

In SaaS, there are two common paths to growth:

• Upmarket (Going "Up and Narrow"): Selling to larger, enterprise customers, which often means higher contract values, longer sales cycles, and heavy customization.
• Broad Market (Going "Down and Wide"): Serving a large number of smaller businesses and individuals, prioritizing volume over high-dollar contracts and keeping things simple, self-serve, and scalable.

At Buffer, we’re fully committed to the down-and-wide approach — instead of chasing big enterprise deals, we focus on making our product accessible, affordable, and valuable for as many customers as possible. This strategy ties directly to our mission: to provide essential tools to help small businesses grow. 

Why does this matter for our growth?

Lower friction: No long sales cycles, negotiations, or complex onboarding. Customers can sign up and start seeing value immediately.

Scalable revenue: Growth comes from thousands of small businesses, solopreneurs, and creators rather than a few large clients.

Resilient model: With a broad customer base, we aren’t overly dependent on any single account.

Aligned with our values: We believe marketing should be simple, accessible, and transparent. This approach allows us to support independent businesses rather than just big brands.

How do we know it’s working?  

• 1K+ net new paying customers for 3 straight months — a milestone we haven’t hit since 2017!
• Strong activation and signup trends — 114K signups, 50K+ activations in February alone.
• Sustainable growth — By staying down and wide, we’re building a SaaS business that’s sustainable, scalable, and resilient.

This approach is driving our growth and profitability, but how does it stack up against one of the most important SaaS benchmarks?

The Rule of 40: Are We There Yet?

For SaaS companies, there’s a simple but powerful metric that is a key marker for sustainable growth: The Rule of 40.

It’s a quick way to gauge whether a company is growing sustainably. The formula?

📈 Revenue Growth (%) + 💰 Profitability (EBITDA %) = 40% or more

For VC-backed startups, the Rule of 40 is often a target to justify high burn rates — if growth is strong enough, investors might accept lower profitability (or losses).

For companies like Buffer, the Rule of 40 is a sign of long-term financial health, measuring whether growth and profitability are in balance.

Where we stand at Buffer

• Revenue Growth (YoY): +14.8%
• EBITDA Margin: 9.53%

That puts us at 24.3% using our YoY revenue increase. Solid, but not quite 40% — yet.

Why the Rule of 40 Matters

• It keeps us accountable. A strong Rule of 40 score means we’re balancing growth and profitability, rather than chasing revenue at any cost.
• It signals long-term health. Growth without profitability isn’t sustainable. A strong Rule of 40 score shows we’re building a durable business.
• It’s a moving target. Some months, we’ll lean more into growth; in others, we’ll focus on profitability. The key is compounding progress over time.

We’re not back at 40% — yet. The last time we were operating at the Rule of 40 was 2018. But we’re building toward it in a way that is sustainable, resilient, and aligned with our long-term vision.

Would love to hear from you — do you track the Rule of 40? How do you balance growth and profitability?

Balancing the books until next time,

The Buffer Finance Team (Jenny, Kyle & Suzanne)