## The 'Magic Number' Formula
If a SaaS company has $10M in the bank, should they hire 50 new sales reps and spend $3M on LinkedIn ads? The "Magic Number" mathematically answers this question. It measures how many dollars of Annual Recurring Revenue you generate for every $1.00 you spent on Sales & Marketing in the previous quarter.
### FAQ
**Q: What is a good Magic Number?**
A: `1.0`. A target of 1.0 means that if you spend $1M on marketing in Q1, it yielded exactly $1M in Net New ARR in Q2. If your magic number is `0.4`, it implies your product is incredibly hard to sell, or your sales team is broken. Pouring VC money into a company with a 0.4 Magic Number is equivalent to setting cash on fire, because the CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) Payback period will exceed 36 months.