How Much ERP Software Owners Make: $150K Salary to Distributions
ERP software owners can make a planned $150,000 salary in this model, with distributions possible only after the company clears its operating costs In Year 1, the model adds 60 paid customers from a $150,000 marketing budget and $2,500 CAC, but profit is still tight after $447,500 of payroll and $110,400 of fixed overhead By Year 5, the model shows about 1,000 new customers, $400 million of revenue before churn, 945% gross margin, and much larger pre-tax cash flow before reserves These are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed ERP software owner earnings
Owner income$150k salaryNet margin91.0%–94.5%Revenue for target pay≈$664k–$400MBusiness difficultyHard
Want the six ERP income drivers?
1
ARR Growth
60→1,000
Paid customers scale from 60 in Year 1 to 1,000 in Year 5, so recurring revenue is the main income engine.
2
Sales Efficiency
$2.5K→$1.8K
CAC falls from $2,500 to $1,800, and trial conversion rises from 25% to 40%, so each marketing dollar buys more paid accounts.
3
Gross Margin
81%-88%
Direct cost load drops from 19% of revenue to 12%, so more of each software dollar reaches profit.
4
Payroll Discipline
$548K→$1.34M
Payroll and fixed overhead rise fast as the team scales, so tight hiring keeps EBITDA from getting eaten by staff costs.
5
Customer Retention
25%-40%
Trial-to-paid conversion is the closest model proxy for early retention, and it improves from 25% to 40%.
6
Cash Reserves
25 mo
Minimum cash lands in Month 25, so distributions before break-even can trigger funding stress and dilute owners.
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Owner income calculator
Estimate owner take-home and the target-pay gap from revenue, margin, costs, reserves, and target pay.
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Planning note: Research-based planning estimate only. It is not guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice.
When can an ERP software owner take distributions?
For ERP Software, the owner can take distributions only after salary, payroll, hosting, support, marketing, commissions, taxes, debt service, capex, and reserves are fully funded. In Year 1, that likely means salary-only, because payroll is $447,500 and marketing is $150,000. Later years may support distributions if churn stays controlled and CAC falls from $2,500 to $1,800; safe profit is not the same as distributable cash.
Pay first
Fund payroll before payouts.
Cover taxes and debt service.
Keep reserves for slow collections.
Hold capex back from distributions.
Watch cash
Churn must stay controlled.
CAC should fall from $2,500 to $1,800.
Long sales cycles delay cash.
Enterprise concentration can block payouts.
How much revenue does an ERP software company need to pay the owner?
For ERP Software, a $150,000 owner salary sits behind break-even revenue, not ahead of it. The business has to cover COGS, commissions, payment fees, marketing, payroll, and $110,400 of fixed overhead before the owner gets paid. In year 1, the load is heavy: 190% revenue-linked costs, $150,000 marketing, and $447,500 payroll, so the salary works only with funding or a fast customer ramp.
Year 1 pressure
$447,500 payroll before owner pay
$150,000 marketing spend
190% revenue-linked cost load
$110,400 fixed overhead
Year 2 shift
$2,200 CAC lowers growth cost
159 modeled new customers
ARR still isn’t owner income
Support and sales spend come first
How much can an ERP software company owner make?
$150,000 is the modeled CEO salary for an ERP Software owner, with distributions only after profit and cash reserves; the key success check is covered here: What Is The Most Critical Metric To Measure The Success Of Your ERP Software Business?. In Year 1, the model shows 60 paid customers, $664,000 revenue before churn timing, 91.0% gross margin, $447,500 payroll, and $150,000 marketing.
Owner pay path
Start with $150,000 CEO salary
Take distributions after reserves
Build stage limits cash out
Recurring revenue improves predictability
Scale economics
Year 5 reaches about $400M revenue
Gross margin reaches 94.5%
Scaled sales can lift distributions
Churn and reinvestment can reduce take-home
Key Takeaways
Recurring revenue funds owner pay only when cash collects.
Churn forces costly repurchases, so retention protects income.
Gross margin depends on separating subscriptions from implementation services.
Distributions should follow reserves, taxes, debt, and capex.
ERP software owner income scenario objective
Owner income scenarios
Owner income moves with ARR (annual recurring revenue), paid customers, and CAC (customer acquisition cost). Early payroll and marketing pressure cash, then higher-margin subscriptions lift take-home.
Low, base, and high cases for founder pay and distributions.
Scenario
Low CaseLow Case
Base CaseBase Case
High CaseHigh Case
Launch model
Owner income stays tight because paid-customer growth does not clear the fixed payroll and overhead load.
The founder pays a $150,000 salary while Year 1 reaches 60 paid customers.
Owner income rises once scale and pricing power turn recurring revenue into real surplus.
Typical setup
The model stays below the Year 1 base of 60 paid customers, so marketing spend and staffing absorb most gross profit.
About 60 paid customers in Year 1 drive roughly $445,680 of ARR at a 60 percent Core, 30 percent Pro, and 10 percent Enterprise mix, with 91.0 percent gross margin, $447,500 payroll, and $110,400 fixed overhead.
The mature case uses Year 5 mix and pricing, with 1,000 new customers, stronger Enterprise share, 94.5 percent gross margin, and a larger sales and support team.
Cost drivers
Weak trial conversion
higher CAC
payroll overhang
fixed overhead
cash reserve pressure
60 Year 1 paid customers
$2,500 CAC
91.0% gross margin
$447,500 payroll
$110,400 fixed overhead
1,000 new customers
$1,800 CAC
94.5% gross margin
$1.8M marketing budget
scaled payroll
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
$0 - $75,000Low Case
$150,000 - $250,000Base Case
$300,000 - $1,000,000+High Case
Best fit
Use this to stress-test slow adoption, thin cash, and a longer path to payback.
Use this as the core plan for a founder-run launch with one paid executive salary.
Use this to test upside if acquisition improves, margins hold, and enterprise mix expands.
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Planning note: These are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distribution targets.
ERP Software Core Six Income Drivers
Recurring Revenue Scale
Recurring Revenue Scale
Annual recurring revenue (ARR) is the base that pays the owner’s salary and distributions. In Year 1, the model shows $619 subscription plus $91 usage per customer, or $710 monthly recurring revenue before churn (lost customers).
Booked sales are weaker than live paying customers because unpaid deals do not fund payroll. If the base is active, retained, and collected, owner income is steadier; if churn rises, the revenue line can look fine while cash to the owner stays thin.
Track Collected MRR
Measure active customers, MRR (monthly recurring revenue), churn, and cash collected each month. Split subscription revenue from usage so you can see what is recurring and what is variable. On the Year 1 input, every 10 customers equals about $7,100 in monthly recurring revenue before churn.
Live customers beat booked deals
Collected cash funds owner pay
Churn shrinks the salary base
Usage should be tracked separately
Forecast distributions from collected recurring cash first, then add usage upside. If collections slip or onboarding runs long, the base gets less reliable and the owner’s take-home drops with it.
Sales Efficiency and CAC
Sales Efficiency and CAC
CAC (customer acquisition cost) is the cash you spend to win one paid customer, including marketing, sales pay, commissions, and demo time. In this model, CAC falls from $2,500 in Year 1 to $1,800 in Year 5, while marketing spend rises from $150,000 to $18M. That only helps owner income if paid customers grow faster than spend.
Here’s the quick math: implied paid customers rise from 60 to 1,000. Funnel inputs also improve from 15% visitor-to-trial and 250% trial-to-paid to 25% and 400%. Long demos and sales commissions still push cash out before revenue lands, so owner distributions can lag even when bookings look strong.
Improve CAC Payback
Track visitor-to-trial, trial-to-paid, CAC by channel, and payback days. The inputs you need are marketing spend, sales payroll, commissions, demo length, and closed paid customers. If trials rise but paid conversions stay weak, CAC climbs and cash gets tied up longer. One clean metric: paid customers per $1,000 spent.
Measure CAC by channel.
Shorten demo cycles.
Raise trial-to-paid conversion.
Cut low-yield spend fast.
Push for faster close rates and tighter commission control so cash comes back sooner. If sales cycles stretch, owner pay gets delayed even when revenue is booked. The practical target is simple: more paid customers from the same budget, with fewer days between first spend and first cash collected.
Reinvestment and Reserve Policy
Reinvestment and Reserve Policy
ERP software cash should not all flow to owner draws. In this model, $25,000 of initial development platform licenses and $110,400 per year of fixed overhead equal about $9,200 per month before taxes, debt, capex, and cash buffers. Safe distributions come only after the company can keep funding roadmap, security, compliance, support capacity, and hosting spikes.
That means available profit is not take-home income. The owner’s draw depends on what stays after recurring costs and reserve needs, especially in slower sales months. If reserves are thin, one bad quarter can force the business to pause product work or cut support, which hits retention and future income fast.
Set the cash floor first
Track monthly burn, reserve balance, and planned reinvestment before setting distributions. Use a simple rule: protect cash for core ops first, then pay the owner from what remains. For this model, the starting cash needs include $25,000 in platform licenses and $110,400 in annual overhead, plus taxes, debt service, and capex.
Model taxes before owner pay.
Ring-fence security and compliance spend.
Keep support cash for churn risk.
Hold extra cash for hosting spikes.
Payroll and Product Discipline
Payroll Load and Founder Backfill
In ERP software, payroll is the cash burn that can cap owner pay even when revenue grows. In this model, payroll climbs from $447,500 in Year 1 to $123M in Year 5, across CEO, engineering, sales, marketing, customer success, and admin. If the founder is still selling, managing product, or leading implementations, part of that payroll is really unpaid founder labor, and profit can look better than cash.
Here’s the key test: can recurring revenue cover a full team plus a fair replacement cost for the owner? If not, distributions stay thin even with strong bookings. The inputs that matter are headcount by function, loaded salary, founder hours, and implementation load. One line says it all: if the founder leaves tomorrow, can the business still run at the same pace?
Measure the Real Cost of the Team
Track payroll as a share of live revenue, not just headcount growth. Split it into product, sales, customer success, and admin, then add a replacement cost for the founder’s work. If implementation hours are high, compare them to setup fees so the founder is not subsidizing delivery. That keeps cash flow honest and protects owner take-home.
Use a simple rule in the forecast: if new hires do not raise retained recurring revenue or cut founder load, delay them. Watch whether each added role improves gross profit, speeds onboarding, or lowers churn. If not, payroll will rise faster than distributions, and the owner will feel growth on paper but not in the bank.
Gross Margin and Delivery Cost
Gross Margin and Delivery Cost
Delivery cost is the spend to host the ERP, pay third-party tools, support users, and do implementation work. With model COGS at 90% of revenue in Year 1, gross margin is only 10%; by Year 5, COGS falls to 55%, so margin rises to 45%. That spread drives owner pay because thin margin leaves little room for salary or distributions.
Here’s the catch: commissions and payment fees add another 10.0% in Year 1 and 6.5% in Year 5, and heavy onboarding can eat the one-time implementation fee. Separate subscription margin from services margin, or a contract can look good on revenue but still be weak on cash.
Track Delivery Cost by Contract
Measure hosting, support time, third-party tools, and implementation hours per customer, then compare them to subscription and setup fees. The owner should watch gross margin by cohort, not just total revenue, because a high-touch customer can wipe out the month’s profit. One line matters: revenue minus direct delivery cost equals take-home capacity.
Track onboarding hours per client.
Separate software and services revenue.
Price setup to cover labor.
Watch payment-fee drag on collections.
If setup work is heavy, push more of the cost into the implementation fee or the margin drops fast. That protects cash flow and keeps recurring subscription profit available for owner pay.
Customer Retention and Expansion
Retention and Expansion
For ERP software, retention protects owner income because lost customers must be replaced with paid acquisition. Here’s the quick math: CAC starts at $2,500 and falls to $1,800, so churn forces the company to rebuy revenue and delays profit that can be paid out.
Expansion matters too. Higher-tier mix can move Enterprise from 100% in Year 1 to 250% in Year 5, while add-on modules and usage growth lift monthly revenue without the same new-sales cost. Churn data has to be a model input, or owner income will look better than it really is.
Track Churn, Then Expand Accounts
Measure gross churn, net revenue retention, and module attach rate by customer cohort. If a customer does not renew, the model should show the lost subscription, usage, and the replacement CAC, not just the top-line drop. That is what hits cash flow and the owner’s draw.
Push expansion inside live accounts before chasing new logos. Track upgrade timing, seat growth, and usage spikes, then price add-ons so revenue rises faster than support and onboarding cost. If churn rises, retention work comes before sales scaling, because every lost account restarts the acquisition spend.
