If you have code that is difficult to maintain and build upon and as a result are loosing a lot of your top development talent then this will eventually kill th

If you have code that is difficult to maintain and build upon and as a result are loosing a lot of your top development talent then this will eventually kill the majority of companies. But like you said if you have little to no cashflow right now then that is going to kill the business faster. It's all about finding a balance. You need to make sure that you have the cashflow to get to the point where having a sustainable code base and talent matters. If you worry too much about innovation debt off the bat you'll never get out the front door, but if you don't worry about it at all you will likely reach a point where everything eventually comes crashing down.