Re:Ask HN: Whats the worst startup idea you've heard, which ...
by codingdave on Saturday August 08, 2015 @02:12PM
(#10028143)
So less than 2 weeks later, anyone who had shorted 10K based on your sarcastic comments to do so would also have been quite pleased.
Thanks, man. It was a brilliant call.
Current profitability is irrelevant. What matters is net future (discounted) profitability. People who malign companies for not currently being profitable apparently don't understand this, but investors do, and the market certainly does.
Many great companies are massively unprofitable while in their early growth stage, then become massively profitable in their later years, and are valued accordingly. If you can exchange $1B in profits this year for (say) $2B in profits next year, you'd be a fool (assuming current discount rates) not to make the trade.