Profitable

How it is used

Used about companies, products, customers and channels: a profitable business, our most profitable customers. Startups often grow first and become profitable later. People say become, stay or get profitable, and the noun is profitability, as in the path to profitability.

Example sentences

1. The company became profitable in its fourth year without raising more money.

2. Our enterprise customers are far more profitable than small businesses.

Common collocations

• become profitable
• profitable growth
• path to profitability
• highly profitable

Related terms

• break evenTo reach the point where revenue equals costs, so the company is neither losing money nor making a profit.
• revenueThe total money a company earns from selling its products or services in a period, before any costs are taken away.
• gross marginThe share of revenue left after paying the direct costs of making or delivering a product, before other costs such as marketing, rent and office expenses.
• cash flowThe movement of money into and out of a business over a period. Positive cash flow means more money is coming in than going out.
• bootstrapTo start and grow a company with your own savings and the money it earns from customers, without raising funds from outside investors.

More terms: Unit Economics & Metrics

• burn rate
• runway
• customer acquisition cost
• unit economics
• lifetime value
• MRR
• KPI