Business models, network effects, unit economics and what growth consumes.
Name the two sides, say which one pays and why, and describe exactly how one side's growth helps the other.
Marketplace and platform pitches, product strategy questions, and the marketplace model.
From Platform Revolution · Geoffrey Parker, Marshall Van Alstyne and Sangeet Paul Choudary
Ask how a business escapes competition before asking how large its market is.
Venture and growth interviews, any moat discussion, and any pitch that leads with market size.
From Zero to One · Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
A platform that lets others earn on it grows faster than one that captures every dollar; the forgone revenue is the investment.
Platform strategy, take-rate questions, and any marketplace where the company could raise its share of the transaction.
From Shopify's 2015 IPO letter from Tobi Lütke · Tobi Lütke
Tell investors in advance that you will optimise long-term cash flows over reported earnings, then do it, so the market can price the choice rather than be surprised by it.
Any growth company valuation, any founder letter, and the interview question of how to value a company that reports no profit.
From Amazon's 1997 letter to shareholders · Jeff Bezos
Profit is not cash, and growth widens the gap; model the cash a business needs to grow before admiring its sales.
Any three-statement question, any growth company's cash flow, and any founder conversation about runway.
From Shoe Dog · Phil Knight
A compute vendor's case is a flywheel from agents to tokens to compute; the buyer's case is the return on that compute, and both have to be read together.
Semiconductor and data-centre coverage, technology investing, and any debate about AI capital spending.
From NVIDIA's fiscal 2026 letter from Jensen Huang · Jensen Huang
Judge a network by whether its first small market is dense and self-sustaining, not by the size of the market it aims at.
Early-stage diligence, growth strategy questions, and any marketplace that reports total users rather than density.
From The Cold Start Problem · Andrew Chen
In a post-mortem, separate the direction from the pace and the explanation, and say which one failed.
Subscription pricing, crisis communication, and the behavioural question about a mistake you made.
From Netflix's third-quarter 2011 letter to shareholders · Reed Hastings and David Wells
Growth is arriving faster and concentrating harder, so a company's trajectory in its first year tells you more than it used to.
Venture and growth diligence, cohort analysis, and any question about base rates for new companies.
From Stripe's 2025 annual letter · Patrick Collison and John Collison
Growth ties up cash in receivables and inventory, so model the working capital a business needs before trusting its profit.
Three-statement questions, cash flow forecasting, and any growth company whose profit and cash are diverging.
From Working Capital Explained · The Finance Storyteller