Startup Growth vs. Healthy Growth: What's the Difference?

20 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, Chrissy Myers contrasts two common approaches to scaling startups. She explains that many startups rely heavily on external capital, treating large cash infusions as a proxy for revenue and focusing primarily on raising more money. In contrast, healthier companies view external funding as a temporary resource to uncover genuine revenue drivers and build sustainable growth. Myers emphasizes the importance of using capital strategically—as a stepping stone to identify and scale the underlying business model—rather than as an end in itself.

Chapters

I would say in the startup world, it's very clear because a lot of these companies are funded by external capital. So they get this infusion of money that might look like good money, like revenue, but it's not. It's just to keep them afloat while they're, they're figuring these things out. And for some startups, they think that that's what they should focus on. Like my goal is to raise more money and try to make money that way. While the good companies, I would say, are focusing on just using that cash infusion as a way to actually find what is going to drive revenue for this company and how can I use that cash infusion as just a stepping stone to getting there and maybe in the future also to grow even faster.