[_ah]

You need to watch your CAC Payback Period very very very closely. This is the thing that kills otherwise successful SaaS companies... they are profitable long-term but bankrupt short-term, and end up needing to scrape up funding with terrible terms to bridge that gap.

All customers will cost you something on the front end, even if it's just time. That time is money. How long does it take to earn enough profit to pay that back? Higher margin and lower operation cost --> faster payback period --> ability to onboard customers faster.

Stated differently: if 10M new customers walked through your door tomorrow, could you onboard and retain them immediately? Probably not. Determine your new customer flow rate and gear your sales + advertising activities to hit that rate. Then you can add more business capacity and continue to scale.

One more thought: as you scale, how can you lower your employee cost? People talk about remote hiring, and that's an option, but there's also another shortcut: mission. People will take less money for the same work if they're excited about the mission. Mission IS compensation. What makes a good mission? Maybe you're focused on minority-owned small businesses. Maybe you're offering a chance for developers from non-traditional backgrounds to grow. Maybe you employ ex-cons. Maybe you're trying to launch a rocket to Mars. Whatever it is, find the GENUINE thing that makes your story super unique and use that to attract good employees for less cash.

[kingkongjaffa]

> Whatever it is, find the GENUINE thing that makes your story super unique and use that to attract good employees for less cash.

That's called emotional manipulation. Pay people what they are worth.

[_ah]

Not manipulation but a recognition of reality. Mission is worth something to people. Different amounts for different people, but not zero .

Why do game developers get paid less, on average, than someone doing boring business software? Because people want to make games. You have to pay someone more to do boring work. "I build games" is part of the compensation package just as much as a paycheck or healthcare benefits.

As a startup you can't always choose your cash flow. But you can choose your mission. All else being equal, you should choose an exciting mission that attracts better talent.

[cutthegrass2]

Choosing to share some of the upside in business growth with those employees would mean they're likely fully 'bought into' the mission then.

[gnz11]

> "I build games" is part of the compensation package just as much as a paycheck or healthcare benefits.

No, just no. An employee can switch companies for better compensation and still remain in the gaming industry making games.

Also, no one gives a damn about your mission statement.

[pajuhaan]

Thanks. There are some really interesting points in your message. I'll be talking and writing about our values and mission in the coming weeks and observing the feedback - actually, we already have some but not sure how to stand out among the noise.

[eaenki]

this is an amazingly long way of saying , have good freecashflow