[Yadi]

Thanks. Indeed, I agree with you regarding how startups are about "creating value for the customer."

But I think at some point, this might become very difficult due to the technical debt when the startup can't deliver more value than it promised.

[rgbrenner]

That's definitely true of technical debt.. There are two issues here:

1) A competitive issue.. a company will less tech debt will be able to improve their product faster. That is a risk, but it depends on the competitive landscape how much risk that amounts to.

2) When you say "startup can't deliver more value than it promised".. this is more a variation on my original point. The issue isn't "delivering more value", but that the value that has been delivered is insufficient to meet customer needs.

Above that, "delivering more value" is a growth issue (your ability to meet the needs of additional segments of the market). And it's certainly true that startups with less tech debt can improve their product faster -- ie: grow faster.

[Yadi]

Thanks :)! Lots of good clarified points.