[danieltillett]

If the growth rate is slower (or faster) than the optimal growth rate then the management has made a mistake (assuming they have any control over this). When you frame it this way what you are asking is have any startups failed for making mistakes which is does not need to be answered.

What you are really asking is it possible to workout in real-time (no hindsight) what the optimal growth rate should be for each company and if this is always “as fast as possible”. This is very hard question to answer. My feeling is the optimal is more often than not close to the “fast as possible” level, but it will depend on the company and industry.

[mark-r]

No, what they're asking for is concrete examples. Real-life examples are always more illuminating than theoretical discussions.

[danieltillett]

How can there be any “real-life” examples of failure for this reason unless you first determine what the optimal growth rate of the company should have been? If you can’t answer this question then any discussion about the reason for failure is a “just-so” story made up after the fact.

The more important question to answer is how can you work out what the optimal growth rate should be of any startup.