Most new companies today are capital light even the physical ones relative to the past due to technological innovation Its created a dynamic where profitability only matters if there is viable competitors If a leader with little competition is losing money they continue to exist because a company doesnt go bankrupt when they are not profitable or have no money they go bankrupt when capital markets are no longer willing to fund them An investors and markets especially in todays dynamics of fiat are willing to fund novel players into infinity Think about Uber a company whos numbers if was in a perfect competition business would be bankrupt by now but Uber has no viable global competitor and so it gets funded whenever needed This doesnt mean they will end up winning in the end but its useful in situations when the market is early to focus owning monopoly possibilities until viable global competitors show up - once they do you do have to focus on profitability as without it capital markets view the same reason as why you were growing to why you are dying Nokia, Blockbusters whatever you name it never had trouble getting money when they were the leader even when losing money but once they are perceived to actually be losing the same issues become a death sentence If you understand this youll understand VC investing, growth investing, value investing dynamics much more clearly