Elena Verna · 8 min read · Product Strategy
Revenue addiction kills companies.
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The article argues that treating revenue as the sole North Star is toxic, driving short-termism that erodes trust and damages long-term growth. It highlights how this focus pushes dark UX patterns, opportunistic pricing, and neglect of meaningful innovation. Sustainable success, it suggests, comes from aligning product investments with customer problems and strategic technology bets rather than chasing quarterly revenue gains.
Key Takeaways
- Revenue-centric goals lead to short-termism that undermines long-term value and trust.
- Fixating on immediate revenue can trigger dark UX patterns and harmful monetization tactics.
- Long-term product success requires investing in customer problems, innovation, and strategic tech bets.
- quarterly targets and forecasts can distort roadmaps; sustainable growth demands a broader measure of success beyond short-term revenue.
Excerpt
I love revenue. Who doesn’t love revenue? But some (and I mean MANY) companies aren’t just pursuing revenue. They’re absolutely addicted to it. I’m talking full foaming-at-the-mouth, short-term dopamine hit, sell-your-future-for-this-quarter kind of addicted. The kind where you squeeze customers a little harder every quarter, slowly wreck trust, burn the brand, and then six months later everyone’s in a meeting asking, “Why is retention and growth suddenly bad?” And here’s the hard truth: in this age of technological trAInsformation, that kind of revenue chasing is straight up fatal. I’ll go even further: If revenue is your North Star, your company…