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Why unit economics actually matter more than those flashy growth charts

Original: Why Unit Economics Outlast Growth Metrics

May 28, 2025
7 min read
Opinion
Intermediate
Why Unit Economics Outlast Growth Metrics

Summary

Understanding unit economics is essential for analytics professionals in SaaS and product-driven businesses. This post emphasizes how focusing on granular, per-customer profitability metrics can outlast vanity growth metrics, providing a more sustainable view of business performance. By mastering techniques to analyze customer acquisition costs, lifetime value, and other unit-level metrics, analysts can uncover crucial insights to inform strategic decision-making and drive long-term success.

Who This Is For

Business Analysts
Product Managers
Founders

Key Takeaways

  • Learn to prioritize contribution margin and gross margin over vanity metrics like revenue growth
  • Understand how to identify when scaling is actually hurting your business profitability
  • Recognize the warning signs when growth metrics hide underlying financial problems
  • Master the shift from asking 'Is it growing?' to 'Is it strengthening?' in your analysis

Tools & Technologies

Spreadsheet modeling P&L analysis tools Customer analytics platforms

Topics Covered

unit-economics customer-acquisition-cost lifetime-value saas-metrics rule-of-40

More from Juliana Jackson

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Juliana Jackson May 28, 2025
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The Glazing Effect: How AI Interactions Quietly Undermine Critical Thinking

Why your AI buddy might be making you lazy (and what to do about it)

The blog post explores how AI-driven interactions can inadvertently undermine critical thinking, a key skill for analytics professionals. By understanding the "glazing effect" of AI, data analysts and product managers can learn to leverage AI responsibly and maintain a sharper, more discerning edge in their decision-making processes. This insight is particularly valuable for professionals tasked with extracting meaningful insights from data and driving impactful business strategies.

Juliana Jackson May 28, 2025
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Related Resources in Business Understanding

Topics

unit-economics customer-acquisition-cost lifetime-value saas-metrics rule-of-40