Let’s say he took out a bank loan to build 50 machines real quick. He probably would have sold them quickly and been able to build the next 50 and pay the bank at an accelerated rate, and everything would have been fine. He’d eventually have a higher customer base and slightly higher volume.

Where you’re correct is that people look at this in hindsight and say things like what I said. But in the moment they may think this is the big chance, hire a few staff to build them faster and get stuck with a bunch if liabilities when demand ramps down while they were hoping it would continue going up.

People who don’t believe in their business fail, some never even start. But believing your own hype is the best way to fail spectacularly and I expect it’s hard to see while it’s happening. Even as an employee I’ve looked back a few times and wondered what the hell I was thinking buying into a failed idea.

Possibly because he had exhausted his professional network of contacts who trust him enough to put an order with him.