i was talking to a founder recently over coffee. they described how their startup had been pushing more growth than expected to close the year.
without wasting a breath, they said they had ninety days of runway to figure out the next raise.
then, before i could reply, they extended runway for six more months and needed to make sure growth was there for what comes next.
as a founder, there's no buffer between the reality of growing and dying. both paths forward are equally clear at the same time.
we joked it was like schrödinger's cat in superposition: both alive and dead.
here's what most people miss: startups don't die from specific mistakes. they die from physics.
a startup is a negative entropy machine. you're fighting the natural state of things, which is disorder and decay.
customers churn.
code degrades.
team momentum dissipates.
the market moves on.
all of that happens automatically. it costs zero energy.
growth is what requires constant energy. you have to push against entropy every single day. the moment you stop pushing, the default takes over.
this is why both states exist simultaneously. you're growing because you're pouring energy into the system. you're dying because entropy never stops.
the question isn't which state you're in. both are true.
the question is: are you generating enough energy to keep the growth rate above the decay rate?