The opposite is also often true. Especially in tech, where we build things computers do ever afterwards. If my team implements a feature that generates $5M per year, and gets $500k that first year (10%), the expectation is that they don’t just sit back and maintain the feature ever after. They’re expected to maintain it while implementing the next $5M/year feature. By the end of year two, for the cost of $1M, they’ve given you $15M plus $10M/year going into the future. Of course it’s not that simple, because maintenance costs are crazy and nothing lasts forever, but the idea holds.

If you imagine the ongoing revenue to be worth 10x today, that 10% commission is just 1%.