[erulabs]

Now maybe I'll get some backlash for this, but I can't square this attitude I hear again and again:

> Hyper-growth at any cost was out of the question, because it incentivizes profit over purpose and extractive practices toward users.

If you believe, in your heart of hearts, that growth and profitability come _only at the expense of your customers_, then the chance of creating a successful enterprise is zero percent. Maybe it's a lie we tell ourselves, maybe it's the core foundation of capitalism, who knows: but you _have_ to believe customers are giving you their money because they want what you're selling - not because you're tricking them. You can believe SUCCESSFUL_COMPANY practices "extractive practices toward users", but clearly SUCCESSFUL_COMPANY doesn't believe that, and most likely their paying customers don't either.

I really love so much about the entrepreneurial world, and I'm glad we've all walked back on the "hyper growth at all costs" mentality, but in both my generation and the newer one, this vein of "making money means doing bad things" runs deep. It genuinely depresses me. If there are only two worlds, the wolf-of-wallstreet world and and the "hey man, money is evil, okay?" world, I hate to say it, but I'll be putting on my blazer.

[webmaven]

> Now maybe I'll get some backlash for this, but I can't square this attitude I hear again and again:

> > Hyper-growth at any cost was out of the question, because it incentivizes profit over purpose and extractive practices toward users.

> If you believe, in your heart of hearts, that growth and profitability come _only at the expense of your customers_, then the chance of creating a successful enterprise is zero percent.

No backlash, but you're conflating users and customers.

Consider the entire adtech industry. It definitely treats data about users as a resource to extract refine and sell, and their (paying) customers are the advertisers.