The Blitzscaling Era (2010-2022): A Post-Mortem
For over a decade, most SaaS founders operated under a singular playbook: grow at all costs.
Looking back, it's almost surreal how we convinced ourselves this made sense.
Revenue was treated as merely another slide in the pitch deck, a metric to justify the next round of funding.
Startups built bloated products where 80% of features collected dust, unused and unnecessary.
The symptoms were everywhere:
- Companies obsessed with headcount growth, treating office perks as a growth metric
- Board meetings dominated by vanity metrics that had little correlation with actual business health
- The average startup burning through $800,000+ in monthly runway like it was monopoly money
- A bizarre equation where more funding somehow equaled more success
- ROI conversations centered around TAM size instead of actual profit margins
- Each fundraise becoming another exercise in dilution management
Founders convinced themselves this was normal.
It wasn't.
The Revenue First Era (2023-????): A New Paradigm
The market correction didn't just changed valuations, it fundamentally reshaped how we build and scale software companies.
Welcome to the Revenue First Era, where the rules of the game have been turned on their head.
Here's what's different:
1. Revenue as Fuel, Not a Metric
Revenue isn't just another KPI anymore, it's the actual fuel that powers sustainable growth.
When your customers fund your growth, you build differently. You optimize differently. You think differently.
2. The Rise of Autonomous Unit Economics
The best businesses today are built on unit economics that work from day one.
We're seeing companies achieve exponential growth through systems that generate cash flow and compound value on their own, not through endless fundraising rounds.
3. The Efficiency Multiplier Effect
Instead of just adding headcount, successful companies are building solutions that multiply efficiency.
We're teams of <10 people accomplish what used to require 100.
Doing more with less is an understatement. Most companies never needed "more" in the first place–it's about rethinking what's possible with the right systems and focus.
4. The New ROI Metrics
RIP vanity metrics. The metrics that matter now are revenue per employee and EBITDA margins. These aren't just numbers – they're indicators of business health that actually mean something.
The $3.5 Trillion Shift
This won't be a temporary adjustment. Yes, unicorn chasers will still exist, but we're witnessing a $3.5 trillion shift in how software companies are built, scaled, and funded.
The most profound change? The funding source itself. Your customers, not VCs, become your primary source of growth capital.
I can already hear the pushback: "But how will you scale?" cries the VC used to the old playbook.
The answer is beautifully simple: build businesses that don't burn capital but generate it.
Looking Ahead to 2025
The path forward is clear, even if it's uncomfortable for those clinging to the old way of doing things.
In 2025, profitable efficiency isn't an advantage, it's the price of admission.
This is the Revenue First Era, and there's no going back.
The only way out is through.
And for those who adapt, the opportunities have never been bigger.
The companies that will dominate the next decade aren't being built on pitch decks and burn rates.
They're being built on profitable, sustainable, customer-funded growth. That's not just a prediction, it's already happening.
Welcome to the Revenue First Era. 🎯