A core tenet of Gates's management philosophy was extreme financial conservatism. He insisted on keeping enough cash in the bank to cover all expenses for a full year, even if revenue dropped to zero. This survival-focused mindset provided a massive strategic advantage and independence from outside capital.

Raise capital when you can clearly see upcoming growth and need resources to service it. Tying your timeline to operational milestones, like onboarding new customers, creates genuine urgency and momentum. This drives investor FOMO and helps close deals more effectively than an arbitrary deadline.

Instead of chasing massive, immediate growth, Chomps' founders focused on a sustainable, self-funded model. This gradual scaling allowed them to control their destiny, prove their model, and avoid the pressures of early-stage investors, which had burned one founder before.

For startups experiencing hyper-growth, the optimal strategy is to raise capital aggressively and frequently—even multiple times a year—regardless of current cash reserves. This builds a war chest, solidifies a high valuation based on momentum, and effectively starves less explosive competitors of investor attention and capital.

Despite a $50 million exit from their previous company, the Everflow founders intentionally limited their initial investment to a few hundred thousand dollars and didn't take salaries for two years. They believed capital scarcity forces focus and efficiency, preventing wasteful spending while they were still figuring out the product.

Everflow achieved significant scale and profitability ($30M ARR, $250k revenue/employee) by eschewing the "glamorous" path. For most of its journey, the company focused on capital efficiency and customer satisfaction instead of founder-led marketing like PR, personal branding, and podcasts.