Return of the P-Word

The headlines have been rough for growth startups in recent months (insert link about WeWork).

It has been particularly challenging for growth startups and their investors looking to take their company public. For what were once the darlings of the investment, tech and media worlds, suddenly the music has started to slow, if not stopped (see Postmates).

In some ways, we’ve now reached a peak when you have a twitter battle between a prominent investor and a professor on the merits of these companies’ existence and prospects of survival. It turned ugly (or entertaining depending on your seats) when they started to make wagers online to show “skin in the game”.

No, this post isn’t a takedown of VCs, WeWork, or any other VC-backed growth company.

What is rising from these debates is something more subtle and important – a discussion about how businesses are grown and their pathway to profitability or the “P-word”. (Sorry, I know many were expecting me to say pricing, but we’ll get to that)

Let’s go over how we got here and what to consider when thinking about the profitability question for your business.

To read the full article visit the HelloAdvisr blog.

EDWARD LEE
Founder & CEO
HelloAdvisr

Ed Lee is a pricing and go-to-market specialist and trusted adviser to leading companies and brands. He is the founder of HelloAdvisr, a Los Angeles-based growth consultancy helping companies and leadership teams build and implement profit growth strategies.

Ed specializes in international and national marketing and pricing strategies, discount optimization, and salesforce management across retail/ecommerce, marketplace and platform businesses. Previously, Ed held leadership roles with LG Electronics and Simon-Kucher & Partners, a global management consulting firm and world’s leading expert in pricing.

Ed is regularly invited to speak on pricing strategy at leading universities and institutions including the University of Southern California (USC), UC San Diego and General Assembly as well as startup/tech organizations such as LA Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and Wayra (London, UK). Ed received an MBA from Oxford University, MSc from the London School of Economics and a BA from the UC, San Diego.