[lxe]

There's a post-dotcom-bubble VC delusion that says that "growth" is the most important thing for an investor. Companies that can show growth, like Uber, are used as an example of "success," and "unicorn" becomes a thing that companies strive for.

So, companies did anything to show growth, which means marketing and incentives to acquire users, to adjacent services, to hiring more staff. I'm sure leadership either knew that this is what needed to be done to get more funding, or they actually drank the cool aid.