Factory Economics — Unit Analysis
The Math Behind
85-96% Margins
How we achieve enterprise software margins
with zero compromise on quality.
UNIT ECONOMICSFIXED CAPEX MODEL
0. THE SIMULATOR
Run Your Own Numbers
Adjust the sliders to model different scenarios and see real-time calculations.
Infrastructure
500
€$1500
€$200
Only charged for active projects
Team
10
€$6,250
Revenue
100
€$55,000
1
How long each project takes to build
Gross Margin
81.5%
Target: 85%+
Yearly Revenue
€$5.5M
Yearly Profit
€$4.5M
Revenue/Dev
€$550K
Annual Operating Costs
Hardware Amortization
€$0.75M ÷ 3 years
€$0.25M
Developer Salaries
10 devs × €$6,250/mo × 12
€$0.75M
API Costs (Active Projects Only)
100 projects × €$200/mo × 1 mo
€$0.02M
Total OPEX
€$1.02M
Infrastructure (One-time CAPEX)
500 Mac Minis × $1,500
Amortized over 3 years in profit calculations above
€$0.75M
Cost/Project
$10,200
Projects/Mac
0.2
Break Even
19 projects
I. INFRASTRUCTURE
The Hardware Foundation
500 Mac Minis. €599 each. Total capex: €500,000. That's the entire infrastructure. No cloud bills. No rent. No datacenter overhead.
Cost Breakdown
€500K
Hardware (one-time)
500 Mac Minis @ €1,000
€960K
Salaries (annual)
10 Engineers @ €8K/mo
Every additional Mac Mini costs €1,000 once. Every additional human engineer costs €96K per year. The math favors machines.
II. REVENUE MODEL
Three Scenarios
CONSERVATIVE
20 Products
Avg Price€50K
Revenue€1.0M
StatusBreak-even
MODERATE
150 Products
Avg Price€50K
Revenue€7.5M
Profit€5.5M
TARGET
AGGRESSIVE
500 Products
Avg Price€50K
Revenue€25M
Profit€22M
The marginal cost of the next project is near zero.
No hiring. No onboarding. No training. No scaling friction. Add projects, not people.
III. THE COMPARISON
vs Traditional Agency
| Metric | Traditional | AI Factory |
|---|---|---|
| Team Size (100 projects/yr) | 30-50 people | 10 people |
| Annual Payroll | €3M - €5M | €960K |
| Infrastructure (one-time) | €0 (cloud bills) | €500K |
| Gross Margin | 30-40% | 85-96% |
| Scale Friction | High (hiring lag) | Zero |
| Delivery Time | 6-12 months | 2-4 weeks |
73%
Cost Reduction vs Traditional
10x
Faster Time to Market
∞
Scale Without Hiring
IV. THE KEY INSIGHT
Software Agencies Scale Linearly. We Scale Exponentially.
Every traditional agency is bottlenecked by hiring. We're bottlenecked by Mac Mini availability.
Traditional Agency
Want to do 2x more projects?
→ Hire 2x more people
→ Wait 3-6 months
→ Pay 2x more salaries
→ Wait 3-6 months
→ Pay 2x more salaries
AI Factory
Want to do 2x more projects?
→ Buy more Mac Minis
→ Ship in 2 days
→ Pay €1,000 once
→ Ship in 2 days
→ Pay €1,000 once