Concept · Numerical Business Rules
Magic Number (SaaS efficiency)
Origin: Scale Venture Partners
Biological Parallel
Foraging efficiency follows the marginal value theorem: a bee visits flowers until nectar intake per unit time falls below the travel cost to the next patch. The 'magic number' is the ratio of energy gained to energy spent—below 1.0 you're starving, above 0.75 suggests highly efficient resource extraction. SaaS magic number (quarterly revenue growth ÷ sales/marketing spend) measures the same thing: return on acquisition effort. Bees that can't maintain a 0.75+ foraging efficiency get outcompeted; companies with low magic numbers face the same fate.