On the other hand, spending money on things that have no link to profitability may shorten your runway and running out of money can put a crimp in your ability

On the other hand, spending money on things that have no link to profitability may shorten your runway and running out of money can put a crimp in your ability to generate profit. Amazon's homemade desks are an example of this. Amazon is very willing to spend huge amounts of money on thing that have a chance of increasing profit, but frugal in areas that can't be tied to long term profit.