Stop staring at those vanity metrics for a second.

There's something nobody's talking about in startup sales efficiency, and it's costing you deals.

Most startups are tracking what's easy to measure, not what actually matters.

Here's what the top performers know:

1. The Only Number That Matters

It's called the Magic Number: New ARR ÷ Previous Quarter's Sales & Marketing Spend

Simple?

Yes.

Brutal?

Also yes.

Because this number tells you:

• If you're burning cash

• If you're scaling efficiently

• If your sales machine works

Above 1.0? You're winning. Below? You're just buying revenue.

2. The People Problem

Everyone talks about headcount. But here's the real metric: Total ARR ÷ Total FTEs

This isn't about how many people you have. It's about how much value each person creates.

3. The Capital Question

Think your fundraising efficiency doesn't matter?

(Total Equity + Total Debt - Cash) ÷ ARR

This tells you:

• How efficiently you're using capital

• If you're really building value

• When you should scale