Sameer Patel

here's the thing about founder expectations pagerduty just hit $1.1B market cap at $500M ARR. thats 2.1x revenue for a profitable company that took 15 years to build profitable. $500M ARR. 2x meanwhile i talk to founders running $2M ARR companies that arent growing, arent profitable, and they want 10x revenue multiples. sometimes higher founders misunderstand how valuations actually work when investors pay a premium, its because theyre buying a discount on the future. the company has momentum, the market is huge, the team is executing. 10x revenue makes sense if that revenue is going to be 10x bigger in a few years but when growth stalls? when the company never lives up to that potential? theres a massive correction back to todays actual value. and todays actual value for a small stagnant unprofitable company is not 10x ARR. its nowhere close public markets are ruthless about this. pagerduty peaked at $50+ per share when the growth story was intact. now its $12. the market repriced the company based on what it actually is today, not what it might have become private markets are slower to correct but they do correct. eventually reality catches up i get it. you raised at a high valuation. you worked on this for years. you want your outcome to reflect that effort but the market doesnt pay for effort. it pays for results and potential so what should you do if youre sitting on a company thats not growing, not profitable, and youre holding out for a valuation that made sense 3 years ago when growth was real - youre probably stuck sometimes the smart move is to reset expectations. take an exit that actually closes. clear your cap table. free yourself up to go build something bigger the founders who build generational companies often do it on their second or third try. after theyve learned what they needed to learn. after theyve reset holding onto a stalled company waiting for a valuation that isnt coming back - thats not conviction. thats just being stuck