I've seen a whole company killed by technical debt. Because the software was written so badly far more developers had to be hired to firefight than the company

I've seen a whole company killed by technical debt. Because the software was written so badly far more developers had to be hired to firefight than the company could afford. The technical support team was similarly bloated to deal with the endless problems the customers had. Sales were low due to the bad reputation. A rewrite was started, but never got anywhere. The company folded under the weight of its massive salary costs.