Isn't success really a measure of profit compared to overall investment, given that given I money, and R gross return, then (R - I) = profit (P), and you want P/I to be as large a number as possible, if there are a significant number of similar investments to be made?
You're kind of implying that you want (P) to be as large as possible, which I agree is good, but as a measure of relative success, I think P/I is more accurate.
Didn't the Conduit cost all of 5 pennies and a tube of toothpaste to make, or somesuch? Does anyone have any actual data?