What is Sustainability Risk?

Sustainability Risk is the risk your startup can't survive long-term even if you find Product-Market Fit. Common causes: negative unit economics (lose money per customer), burn rate exceeds runway, dependency on one customer/platform, unsustainable founder workload, or regulation risk. You might grow fast but still die. Think: "Can we do this for 10 years?" before it's too late to change course.

When Should You Use This?

Assess sustainability risk early: after first customers (do unit economics work?), when planning growth (can we afford to scale?), when building on platforms (what if they shut us down?), and every 6 months as reality changes. Red flags: founder working 80hr/weeks forever, burning cash with no path to profitability, or relying on unsustainable hacks.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• •Growth at all costs—revenue growing but losses growing faster
• •Platform dependency—building on someone else's platform who can kill you
• •Ignoring founder burnout—"we'll rest after we scale" never comes
• •One customer = 80% revenue—they leave, you die
• •Assuming you'll "figure it out later"—unit economics don't magically fix themselves

Real-World Examples

• •MoviePass—unsustainable model ($10/mo for unlimited movies), growth killed them
• •WeWork—grew fast but unit economics never worked, collapsed at IPO
• •Zynga—100% dependent on Facebook, algorithm change devastated them
• •Sustainable counter-example: Basecamp—profitable, bootstrapped, founder-friendly pace