The ‘Oh, Shit’ Moment When Growth Stops

&gt; <i>But if the startup gods aren’t smiling, and you can’t either figure out the cause and&#x2F;or figure out how to correct it, it’s time to start working on a Plan B for the business. Plan B often includes kicking off a strategic process that ends up in the sale of the company before it becomes as obvious to others as it is to you that you’ve got a dying shark on your hands.</i><p>That sounds not entirely ethical &#x2F; honest..

If a business is not growing, but you&#x27;re paying all the bills and still making money, why is that such a terrifying situation?<p>There are two reasons I can see for this fear. First, investors who are afraid to lose a lot of money that they put into the company. Second, leaders who are afraid to have to lay off a whole bunch of people because that&#x27;s very painful. Are there other reasons that I&#x27;m missing?<p>Seems if you&#x27;re bootstrapped and hire slowly, it&#x27;s easier to keep balance in this situation.

&gt; So, when growth slows or stops, feel free to freak out.<p>Or you could just save yourself the mental angst and build a profitable, sustainable business that doesn&#x27;t require perpetual growth to keep the wheels from falling off.

Dang, shouldn&#x27;t this be pointed towards the original source?<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;recode.net&#x2F;2015&#x2F;09&#x2F;29&#x2F;the-oh-shit-moment-when-growth-stops&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;recode.net&#x2F;2015&#x2F;09&#x2F;29&#x2F;the-oh-shit-moment-when-growth-...</a><p>Edit. It is interesting that market saturation is not raised as a possible cause.

&quot;Freak out&quot;, &quot;Drop everything else&quot;, &quot;Involve all the &#x2F;key&#x2F; people&quot;, &quot;Search maniacally for underlying causes&quot; (scapegoat), &quot;Assume the situation is self-inflicted&quot;, &quot;search ... systematic[ally]&quot;, &quot;Divide and conquer&quot;, &quot;Consider a Plan B&quot;<p>To my ears, all those phrases sound like &quot;lay people off&quot;.