Software for physical work is outgrowing CRM

Three sets of quarterly numbers make the same point. Shopify reported revenue of $3.58B, up 34%, on GMV of $115.6B, up 32%, with operating income of $488M against $291M a year earlier and free cash flow of $654M at an 18% margin. Toast reported revenue of $1.91B, up 23%, ARR of $2.4B, up 25%, and a record 9,500 net new locations in a single quarter. Samsara reported ARR of $1.99B, up 30%, revenue up 31%, and ARR from customers above $1M up 62%.

The comparison that gives those figures meaning: the median public B2B company is growing at about 13%. Procore, reporting on 29 July, grew 16%.

Why the gap

The argument in the analysis is about pricing rather than about sector. These companies charge against transaction volume, not against seats. A customer that sells more, serves more covers or runs more vehicles pays more without hiring anyone — so the vendor captures the customer's productivity gain instead of being capped by their headcount.

That is the mechanism worth testing rather than the sector story. Seat-based pricing has an obvious ceiling in a period when buyers are explicitly trying to grow output without growing staff, and it is the same period in which these three are compounding fastest.

The caveat is that transaction pricing runs the other way too. Volume-linked revenue falls with the customer's business, and none of these figures has yet been tested through a contraction in restaurant covers, retail sales or fleet miles.