Research archive
Five long reads on startup business models, from subscription revenue and marketplace take rates to burn rate, runway and the risks of investing in young companies.
All articles
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Why Most Startups Fail and What That Means for Anyone Who Invests in Them
Most new companies do not survive in their original form. A plain look at the common reasons, how outcomes are spread among startups, and the specific risks that come with buying shares in a private company in Canada.
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Burn Rate and Runway: How Startups Measure the Time They Have
Gross burn, net burn and months of runway: the simple arithmetic that decides when a startup must raise money, cut costs or reach profitability, and why the estimate is never as firm as it looks.
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Unit Economics Without Jargon: CAC, Lifetime Value and Payback
Customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, gross margin and payback period, explained in plain words with an illustrative example and the reasons each figure can mislead.
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Marketplaces Explained: Take Rates, Two Sides and the Chicken-and-Egg Problem
A marketplace earns a share of transactions it does not own. Here is how take rates work, why both sides must grow together, and what makes these platforms hard to start and sometimes hard to keep.
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How Subscription Businesses Turn Customers into Recurring Revenue
Monthly plans, annual contracts and renewals: how a subscription model earns its money, why founders watch churn so closely, and where the model is weaker than it looks.
How each article is built
Every explainer follows the same structure, so you know where to find the summary and where to find the limits.
- Lead
- One paragraph stating the question the article answers.
- Chapters
- Five or more sections, each listed in the side navigation.
- Concept figure
- A diagram, definition set or table that explains an idea, never company results.
- Key ideas
- A short summary to come back to later.
- Limits note
- A reminder that the article is educational and not advice.