𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲?

In 1997, Apple was 90 days away from bankruptcy. Today, it’s the world’s most profitable company with a market capitalization hovering around $3.4 trillion. That isn’t just a growth story—it’s an endurance story.

Endurance is not just about survival. It’s about evolving while staying relevant.
Contrast this with Kodak. A pioneer of photography. It invented the digital camera. Yet it faded because it couldn’t reinvent its own narrative.

Some companies grow fast but vanish faster. Others endure because they embrace reinvention as their core competency.

Let’s talk about Asian Paints. It doesn’t get the hype startups get. But it’s been quietly compounding for decades. The company doesn’t just sell paint. It sells consistency, availability, trust—and now, even home décor solutions. Its market leadership isn’t just market share—it’s supply chain brilliance, retail reach, and brand trust layered over time.

What we often forget is that resilience is also a growth metric. Metrics like:
Quarterly profits
GMV
Customer churn
CAC/LTV
…can show performance, but not resilience.

True resilience lies in:
How quickly can your team pivot?
How deep is your customer loyalty?
How antifragile is your business to regulatory, market, or technological shocks?

Take Zoho. No investor hype, no flashy IPO. Yet it operates in over 180 countries, fully bootstrapped, profitable, and deeply rooted in product excellence. Its growth is quiet, patient, and highly enduring.

On the flip side, think of WeWork. Rapid growth. Explosive valuation. A cult of personality. But a fragile business model. WeWork chased visibility over viability. That’s not endurance. That’s spectacle.

As a VC, when I meet founders, I’m not just looking for ambition. I’m listening for resilience cues:
Do you know your blind spots?
How does your team respond to bad quarters?
What keeps your customers from switching?

Endurance is about rhythm over speed. It’s why HDFC Bank is where it is. Why Marico continues to dominate. Why Nykaa found staying power in a crowded space—discipline, niche understanding, and customer-centric execution.

You don’t have to be the biggest or fastest. But you need to be undeniably valuable and hard to displace. The world will keep changing. Categories will keep evolving. Algorithms will shift. What stays is the ability to endure and adapt.

So when I ask about your growth plans, I’m also asking: What makes you enduring?

Would love to know—what businesses do you think epitomize endurance?