Why Uber Won
Investors love to spout this stuff. Unfortunately, it really isn't true (even though as a founder who generally prefers to bootstrap, I wish it was.)<p>FTA:
> If the cost of customer acquisition (CAC) is greater than the lifetime value (LTV), a startup can grow itself to death.<p>Oh, you mean like Salesforce? No, wait, they had an IPO and they <i>still</i> only rarely show a profit. And they hold their LTV very close to their chest, so we still have no idea if CAC is lower or higher than LTV.<p>> When investors talk about growth, we’re talking about sustainable growth.<p>No, you're not, because you continually fund companies that do the opposite. Salesforce, Webvan, Pets.com from the first boom. Instacart, Uber, Lyft, WeWork, HubSpot from the latest.<p>> The period of cheap capital and billion dollar checks has ended.<p>Same thing we heard in 2001 and 2007.<p>> In this capital constrained market, buying scale is no longer going to be a credible lever for the next generation of startups. ... Companies can no longer look to money as a performance enhancing drug for scale-up.<p>Until it is again. It wasn't OK to "buy scale" in 2001 or 2007, but it was in 1997-1999 and 2012-2014. And now in 2016, it's fallen out of fashion again.<p>Either we're going to have a raging depression, or the bubble will inflate again. Hypothetically, <i>both</i> of those scenarios could actually happen--a depression followed by bubble inflation yet again.<p>This is why I suggest that founders tune out the idiocy and focus on building a sustainable business. You probably won't build an Uber as quickly as Uber did. But you'll be hugely protected against the inevitable downfall, and won't find yourself cash-strapped and forced to switch gears quickly (notice Uber now singing the "we plan to be profitable in most U.S. cities this year" tune.) And, more importantly, you'll have built a life for yourself, your employees, and their families that are depending on you.