Just want to clarify this - I'm speaking solely as someone who was given aggressive growth and profitability targets that pretty clearly were so aggressive that

Just want to clarify this - I'm speaking solely as someone who was given aggressive growth and profitability targets that pretty clearly were so aggressive that it was highly unlikely we could hit both. The envy I felt was primarily about early stage startups being able to focus primarily on growth (and covering as much of their burn as possible), rather than outright profitability. I don't think companies should ignore profit, especially not as they grow larger. But having a clear primary goal sounds pretty great.