startups

Ha Nguyen shares a candid story from her time at a fast-growing fashion startup, where strong revenue masked poor unit economics. She reveals how excitement about top-line growth distracted from the reality that each customer lost money. The essay warns founders not to confuse growth with viability.

From an analyst's perspective, Timo Dechau critiques the over-reliance on vanity growth metrics. He shows how dashboards rarely incorporate core cost insights or contribution margins, and how this disconnect skews decision-making. A wake-up call for teams building analytics around business KPIs.