PDF Editors

I don't understand why this is growing

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PDF Editors

What is it?

If you ever applied for something, you know the struggle of uploading, editing, and signing PDFs. You google how to convert or compress a PDF and random site pop ups. You upload a file, you do your magic and then the nightmare behinds. You need to sign up to download a goddamn file. And you still continue BECAUSE you need that file.

PDF editors features usually include:

  • Enable users to password protect PDFs

  • Provide users with the ability to edit fields in existing PDFs

  • Allow users to create new PDFs within the platform

Who’s the buyer?

Depends. PDFs editors solve a big problem when you deal with a lot of PDFs. So finance, office administration, HR.

65% of buyers are in the SMB segment, 23% in the mid-market, and 12% in the enterprise market.

What is the problem?

The problem is simple and painful. You need to edit a PDF. Unfortunately, I don't remember the last time that I had to do it.

So I think the bigger problem that PDF editors solve is digital transformations. Old companies still use a lot of paper. Creating and editing PDFs helps them move their work online. Most use cases are in the Professional Services industry (financial planning or architects to name a few). Those industries live on paper and PDFs.

How big is the market?

The top 10 players bring about $400M in ARR. The combined annual revenue of all players in the market is north of $4B.

How fast is it growing?

In the past 3 years, the market's supply side has grown 113% with an average of 30% year-over-year growth.

Who are the top 10 players?

What’s unique about this market is that there is a strong competition from companies without VC funding. Revenue numbers are estimated.

How much are people paying?

These tools are more of a commodity. It’s usually a one-time purchase of the tool for $50-$100 depending on volume. Users can pay for access to the tool and premium support for about $100 a year per seat.

How are they buying?

In most cases, you download a tool and then you put in a serial key like they used to do in the 90s.

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