Startups and Macro Risk

Sure, macroeconomic conditions change and the cost of capital underpins everything loss-making, high growth start-ups are valued on. It just feels a bit tough on founders like Teo, who now had to fire 44 people to fit a growth profile that, until two months ago, was likely the apple of her VC investor’s eye.

No wonder people hunker down and avoid committing. The macro risk is gone; nobody is seriously worried about global nuclear conflagration. [1] We’re worried about comparatively micro risks, though: financial instability; the grinding risk of having more debt and fewer assets than the previous generations; the fear of relentless social atomization —... See more

The greatest risk of a startup is not that they moved too slowly in dominating the entire marketplace, but rather that they spread their scarce resources too thin and ended up securing few or no customers at all.