And for over a decade most companies talk only about revenue, which is infuriating. Because most startups and tech darlings survive only by continuous infusion of unlimited investor money.
My current startup is also not profitable, we're burning money but we're already signing big contracts and I hope in a year or two we keep growing rather than become profitable (1B+ valuation in a year).
Becoming profitable, even at this point is just a matter of deciding to stop expanding - but neither us nor our investors want this given there is so much potential for growth and more revenue streams on the line.
this is ycombinator's news aggregators, I suspect you're not going to get a "don't take risks and build things" vibe - it's a startup accelerator after all :).
They are either profitable or acquired :)
> Becoming profitable, even at this point is just a matter of deciding to stop expanding
Yeah, growth at all costs is one of the defining factors.
> it's a startup accelerator after al
The only business models for Y Combinator startups are:
- run indefinitely long on unlimited investor money
- get sold to the highest bidder at some nebulous market valuation
Becoming profitable never enters the picture :)
Why? Once a company has been acquired, does it automatically fall out of profitability?
If it's acquired in a stock sale, it remains an independent entity and still has a P&L
If it's acquired/merged in an asset sale (not usually a good sign), it can still be assessed whether the new division is profitable - except in some rare cases like Google (allegedly!) not wanting to itemize some of their divisions to avoid too much regulatory scrutiny on monopoly positions.
> Becoming profitable never enters the picture :)
Seems very wrong based on looking at YC's portfolio, which apparently includes a bunch of profitable startups
It becomes a part of the company that bought it?
> Seems very wrong based on looking at YC's portfolio, which apparently includes a bunch of profitable startups
It contains very few profitable startups. Those are the exceptions.
Investors making long bets is a good thing, I’d argue.
There are a few outliers like "let's subsidize this price dumping until all competitors are dead and then we recoup money by being a de facto monopoly"
