The Era of Blitzscaling Is Over. As a VC, My Money Is On 'Responsible Growth.' Hypergrowth damages companies, people, and the planet. The businesses I'm betting on now are "earning the right to be around for decades."

How fast should you grow?

From the dawn of the dot-com boom in 1995, all the way up through 2020, Silicon Valley had an answer that inspired many others: hyper growth. That's what made headlines, hypnotized investors, and drove a winner-take-all mentality. You want to be Uber, not Lyft; Google, not Bing. Reid Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn, wrote a popular book titled, Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies.

But over the years, it's become clear that "blitzscaling" can lead to irresponsible behaviors. A lot of founders believe they should scale first and then worry about fixing damage they cause. But by then, their business model is baked and it's too hard to change. All they can do is tinker at the fringes and hope they don't wind up bankrupt (or defending themselves in front of Congress or prosecutors). As a venture capitalist, I now believe "responsible growth" is the path to the best returns.