How to Keep Your Business Afloat
The CEO’s Dilemma: Growth vs. Financial Stability
I recognize how difficult it is to keep a business afloat. On a daily basis, you need to keep an eye on the profit and loss statement and cash flow; investors ask for a healthy balance sheet and income statement, and management expects a cash flow statement and projections that will move the company forward.
To put it another way: Keeping a business running is more like trying to save a ship sinking in multiple places. If you have been or are a founder or CEO, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
That’s why many companies claim to be "customer-centric" or "product-centric," but in practice, they make decisions aimed at generating short-term revenue instead of creating long-term value. And I don’t blame them. It’s easy to write “do this or do that” when you’re on the sidelines, but… what if you were the CEO? What if it were your ship that was sinking?
Here’s the answer: building a solid product will be your best growth strategy. The question is, how can you achieve this without compromising your company’s financial stability?
When cash flow is a constant concern, it’s easy to fall into aggressive monetization tactics, such as locking features behind a paywall too soon or raising prices without a proportional product improvement. These strategies may bring immediate revenue, but they damage user trust and reduce long-term growth potential.
An alternative is to lead with a Product-Led Growth (PLG) approach, meaning the product itself becomes the primary driver of acquisition, retention, and expansion. How can you achieve this?
Optimize your cost structure: Before worrying about immediate revenue, ensure your cost structure allows you enough flexibility for expansion.
Maximize retention before scaling acquisition: Focus on delivering value to your most engaged users and ensure the product provides them with a tangible benefit (this will generate sustainable revenue in the future).
Build a community around the product: A well-designed product not only retains users but turns them into ambassadors. User feedback fosters greater engagement and helps drive continuous improvements tailored to users' needs.
Use smart freemium models: Allow users to experience the value of your product or service before introducing pay barriers. A pricing model that enables a natural and gradual transition from free to paid users is key
If you optimize costs, turn users into ambassadors, and structure a progressive monetization strategy, you will achieve sustainable growth without compromising market trust. More importantly, you will truly become both a “customer-centric” and a “product-centric” company.