Comment by turnsout

The article kind of conflates multiple factors and oversimplifies. Equity is great, but it's only as good as the EV (enterprise value) of the company. All things being equal, a company that generates free cash flow is worth more than one that doesn't—regardless of whether it's a software business or not.

Taking a long time to get to "break even" is not inherently a smart or long-term business play. It could just ruin you. In business, cash is oxygen.

Some businesses (especially platforms and marketplaces like Kit) simply take longer, because it takes time to build brand awareness, develop network effects, and basically hit critical mass.

However, the upside of a platform is that the growth is naturally exponential—the more people on the platform, the more valuable it is to its users.

Because this is so time-consuming and difficult, a platform business commands a premium over a more straightforward SaaS product.

One path isn't inherently better than another path—there are just tradeoffs. And hopefully you go into it with eyes open and make those tradeoffs deliberately.