SaaS Metrics - The New Reality of Metrics in the AI Era

For fifteen years, SaaS was evaluated through a relatively stable framework: Rule of 40, LTV/CAC, Magic Number, NRR above 120%. These metrics were calibrated for a world where the marginal cost of each additional user approached zero. That world just changed.

In the age of artificial intelligence, inference costs turn gross margin into a variable rather than a constant. Agent-assisted adoption accelerates acquisition, but it distorts the revenue curve. NRR can look excellent while the underlying product is losing money on every API call. Founders and investors who apply the old formulas without adjustment are missing the new signal.

At Citadelle Capital, we read SaaS metrics through a framework adapted to the current reality: post-inference gross margin, inference cost per active user, productivity per API dollar, and the real lifetime value of cohorts once variable costs stabilize. These aren't the only metrics that matter, but they're the ones that now separate profitable growth from subsidized growth.

Contact us to discuss this approach in more detail.