This advice is valuable to more than just "airplanes," because the truth is that there aren't just two classes of companies -- "airplanes" and "spaceships" -- there are infinitely many.
And it's just as important to realize that your $2B company is not a $20B company as it is to realize that your $200M company is not a $2B company.
If your company can plausibly be $50M, and you realize that, you can get wealthy and your investors can have positive outcomes (not "wildest dream" outcomes of course). But if your company is plausibly $2B, but you try to make it a $20B company, you and your investors will end up less happy than $50M guy, even though his company was worth 1/40th of what yours is.
I think that the story of a lot of companies during the Great Recession is of over-funding themselves to their eventual detriment -- even companies that are objectively very valuable.
And it's just as important to realize that your $2B company is not a $20B company as it is to realize that your $200M company is not a $2B company.
If your company can plausibly be $50M, and you realize that, you can get wealthy and your investors can have positive outcomes (not "wildest dream" outcomes of course). But if your company is plausibly $2B, but you try to make it a $20B company, you and your investors will end up less happy than $50M guy, even though his company was worth 1/40th of what yours is.
I think that the story of a lot of companies during the Great Recession is of over-funding themselves to their eventual detriment -- even companies that are objectively very valuable.