That is pretty normal on high scaling SaaS solutions. If you earn 100k a year on a solution, and you know they in average stay for 5 years, you might spend 150k to acquire them as it is still a good business.
If you're doing it out of your own bank account, you'll bankrupt before realising this return: it's not a lifestyle business.
Basically yea. This effect is just assumed in the world of physical products. As long as you're growing you're nearly out of business because you need to use N revenues to buy your next N+1 of stock.
There is volume discount as you grow.
There is upsell potential on the customers you've signed.
As your signed customers grow their pockets grow to spend more on the solution.
Takes about 3-6. If I use Snowflake today at company X without issue and I switch jobs in a couple years to a new company that hasn't picked their platform, what do you think most people will pick?