if you can demonstrate that you know exactly what your return on growth spend will be, you can tell your CTO that instead of hiring five new engineers this year, she’ll be able to hire twenty new engineers next year. We’ve frequently made that offer to our department leaders—if you can stay lean for three quarters, for example, the dividends we generate from our business model will be worth it. This is also why recurring profit margins are so important for subscription businesses in terms of their ability to grow.
