Startups often underestimate their expenses, especially in the early days when founders may undervalue their own time and efforts.

As you hire more people, your expenses will increase beyond just salaries, so it's important to anticipate these changes. An employee's total cost to a startup can be 25% to 50% more than their salary, so if you pay an engineer $100,000, the fully loaded cost could be between $125,000 and $150,000.

When a startup is losing money, it's essentially a wealth transfer from investors to consumers, and only a few companies will successfully navigate this situation by being very smart about their finances.

When startups raise funds, they often mistakenly assume they need to spend a set amount each month, which can lead to unnecessary expenses instead of focusing on lean operations.

Startups often refuse to charge their users, which is a common issue we see repeatedly.

Be cautious with paid growth, as it can be risky; if you pay for users who don't generate enough revenue, you could run out of money.

I've seen startups charge as little as 1/10 or 1/100 of what they should be charging, which sets them up for failure.

Many startups fail to realize they are running out of cash until it's too late to turn things around.

As a startup grows, the focus shifts from just acquiring users to ensuring sustainable growth and revenue. We learned the hard way that even if users love our product, we must also pay attention to our overall growth metrics to avoid becoming a beloved startup that fails due to lack of financial viability.