# Saas Economics Efficiency Metrics

Evaluate SaaS unit economics and capital efficiency.

- Repository: https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills (7825 stars)
- Category: Business
- License: see repository
- Last updated: 2026-10-16
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill saas-economics-efficiency-metrics -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill saas-economics-efficiency-metrics -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill saas-economics-efficiency-metrics -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill saas-economics-efficiency-metrics -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills`

## Description

Evaluate SaaS unit economics and capital efficiency. Use when deciding whether the business can scale efficiently or needs correction.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

## Purpose

Determine whether your SaaS business model is fundamentally viable and capital-efficient. Use this to calculate unit economics, assess profitability, manage cash runway, and decide when to scale vs. optimize. Essential for fundraising, board reporting, and making smart investment trade-offs.

This is not a finance reporting tool, it's a framework for PMs to understand whether the business can sustain growth, when to prioritize efficiency over growth, and which investments have positive returns.

## Input

**Works best with:** The question you're answering (can we scale? raise? extend runway?) or the metrics you want evaluated.
**Also useful:** Your numbers, CAC, gross margin, burn, runway, magic number, partial data is workable.

Anything supplied with the invocation itself, text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended `ARGUMENTS:` line, counts as answers already given. Use it and skip whatever it covers; don't re-ask.

**Arriving empty-handed? That works too.** Use it as a reference: read the metric sections relevant to your stage and decision.

**Example invocation:** `Are we efficient enough to scale? CAC $9K, gross margin 72%, burn multiple 2.1, magic number 0.6.`

## Key Concepts

### Unit Economics Family

Metrics that measure profitability at the customer level, the foundation of sustainable SaaS.

**Gross Margin**, Percentage of revenue remaining after direct costs (COGS).
- **Why PMs care:** A feature that generates $1M revenue at 80% margin is worth far more than $1M at 30% margin. Margin determines which features to prioritize.
- **Formula:** `(Revenue - COGS) / Revenue × 100`
- **COGS includes:** Hosting, infrastructure, payment processing, customer onboarding costs
- **Benchmark:** SaaS 70-85% good; <60% concerning

The rest: https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills/blob/HEAD/skills/saas-economics-efficiency-metrics/SKILL.md