The text uses an analogy of an oxygen mask to emphasize the priority of understanding ARR before other business metrics.

So, before we go any further, let’s establish that ARR is the most important metric in any subscription business. It’s the lifeblood of the company, how investors will ultimately value it, and where you should focus.

For example, as we started building the world’s first “connected spreadsheet”, we wanted to know, “What data sources are users connecting Equals to?”. The next, most interesting, and most important question in your business.

Oxygen mask analogy used to explain business priority