---
id: "quote-revenue-ceiling"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ Why Efficiency Isn’t Enough"]
tags: ["financial-math", "growth-strategy"]
related: ["concept-efficiency-ceiling", "concept-multiple-expansion", "claim-efficiency-value-cap"]
speaker: "Authors"
speakers: ["Shlomo Benartzi", "Randall Long", "Stefano Puntoni"]
quote: "The reason is simple arithmetic, and it applies to any business: Costs can only be cut to zero, but revenue can grow without a ceiling."
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-tier1-04-ai-for-growth"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/companies-are-using-ai-for-efficiency-they-should-use-it-to-grow"
sourceTitle: "Companies Are Using AI for Efficiency. They Should Use It to Grow."
---
# Revenue Has No Ceiling

> The reason is simple arithmetic, and it applies to any business: Costs can only be cut to zero, but revenue can grow without a ceiling.

**Context.** The one-sentence foundation of the entire thesis — the mathematical asymmetry behind the [[concept-efficiency-ceiling]] and [[concept-multiple-expansion]]. See the quantified forms in [[claim-efficiency-value-cap]] and [[claim-growth-value-multiplier]].

Attributed collectively to the authors — [[entity-shlomo-benartzi]], [[entity-randall-long]], [[entity-stefano-puntoni]].