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by robertlagrant 400 days ago
> If you don't grow by 15% in a year you are a failed company

This just isn't true. Giant numbers of small companies out there doing just fine.

It's only if you need investment that it's hard, because the government sets a floor on what you should expect on a return with the bond market. So a business taking money has to promise a return greater than what the government will just give you.

2 comments

This is true for any company with investors. The 15% figure may be hyperbolic when applied to all companies no matter the size and sector. But the need for ongoing growth is very factual
That's not all companies in the US, though.
The last two publicly traded companies I’ve worked for had increased revenue YoY for several quarters but the stock price was smacked because the gains weren’t enough. I looked around and this doesn’t seem to be an uncommon trend either.

15% may be hyperbolic but there seems to be a percentage of growth that exists where the company is still perceived as failing.

Stock prices for growing companies are highly volatile because no one really knows what the enterprise will ultimately be worth. This is fine. If investors actually perceived the company as failing then the stock price would be close to zero (or at least down close to book value).
Seems like the relevant information is what the stock price was before and after. As nardov says, price is an estimation of future value, not just the current.

As a result, it varies based on performance relative to expectation, as well as a wide range of external factors.