Are you building a business, or just buying customers?

Hey friends 👋This week we’re tackling something we see constantly in pitch decks: impressive growth charts that hide their broken unit economics.We dive into the real math behind customer acquisition cost (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), and payback periods—and why your revenue numbers might be hiding a ticking time bomb.Our core question: If you stopped acquiring customers tomorrow, would your existing customers actually pay back what you spent to get them? Or are you just scaling debt?We break down three real scenarios (okay, realistically contrived):* A coffee subscription bleeding money on every box* A B2B SaaS company betting everything on year-two renewals* A meal planning app in “land grab mode” (our response: 🤯😤)The pattern we keep seeing is a founder focusing on MRR growth while ignoring the fact that each customer costs more to acquire than they’ll ever pay back. That’s not growth—that’s buying your way out of business.We get into the weeds on cohort analysis, retention curves, and why “brand awareness” is usually code for “we haven’t figured out profitable acquisition.” Plus, JDM does actual math in real time. It gets messy, but that’s the point… you get to hear exactly how we process these numbers (perfect for an audio podcast 🙃).In Frivolous Thoughts:* JDM confesses his addiction to productivity gadgets served up by an eerily accurate algorithm* Cam discovers the joy of supporting artists through Patreon.As always, thanks for listening.—Cameron and JDM This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zerototraction.substack.com