Profitability vs Growth: The New SaaS Dilemma in a World of Funding Contraction

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Welcome to the 176th edition of The Growth Elements Newsletter. Every Monday and sometimes on Thursday, I write an essay on growth metrics & experiments and business case studies.

Today’s piece is for 8,000+ founders, operators, and leaders from businesses such as Shopify, Google, Hubspot, Zoho, Freshworks, Servcorp, Zomato, Postman, Razorpay and Zoom.

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SaaS founders used to ask: “How fast can we grow?”

Now they ask: “How long can we last?”

Welcome to 2025, where capital is scarce, growth is dangerous if unprofitable, and the old playbook is getting founders fired.

Shift No One Wanted, But Everyone’s Facing

For years, the growth-at-all-costs mantra was gospel. Boards demanded endless ARR, VCs celebrated high burn rates, and operators prioritised velocity over efficiency. Then came a perfect storm:

• VC pulls back, mega-rounds dry up, survival becomes a KPI.​

• SaaS layoffs, margin demands, and looming exit uncertainty.

• Top performers getting squeezed between expansion targets and “do more with less” budgets.

Now, leadership has to choose: chase top-line ARR with riskier bets, or tighten margins and become cashflow-first.

Hard Math Behind the Dilemma

Why it’s a trade-off:

• The Rule of 40 (growth rate + margin ≥ 40%) is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a survival threshold.

• Just one bad quarter of aggressive CAC and poor retention can sink your next round, blow up your credit line, or trigger a board coup.

• Layoffs and cost cuts buy runway, but erode morale and future talent pipelines.

Operational reality:

• Teams are moving from “just add more leads” to “squeeze more out of what we have.”

• Retention, expansion, and cross-sell are now priority, not lagging indicators.

• Rapid experiment cycles and ruthless prioritisation (every cost, every hire, every tool) become a daily routine.

Operator Playbook: Navigating the Trade-offs

[1] Budget for profit, not potential.

• Recast budgets: force every major expense to defend itself with retention or expansion impact.

• Forecast runway in quarters, not years—and update monthly.

[2] Align incentives with reality.

• Sales comp plans that reward net revenue retention, not just new logos.

• Marketing focuses on LTV and payback, not just impressions.

[3] Make peace with slower top-line growth.

• Shift messaging internally, celebrate wins in churn reduction, margin lift, and expansion.

• Reframe for investors: “We are built to last, not sprint for exit.”

[4] Use contraction to build culture.

• Over-communicate. The best operators rally teams by sharing the brutal math honestly.

• Keep talent: offer retention bonuses, growth paths, and safe environments to experiment.

Bottom Line

The old SaaS religion is gone: profitability is the new North Star.

Founders who get ahead of the curve will outlast and outgrow their reckless competitors in the recovery. The real winners are those who become masters of the margin, not just the top line.

That's it for today's article! I hope you found this essay insightful.

Wishing you a productive week ahead!

I always appreciate you reading.

Thanks,
Chintankumar Maisuria