For more than a decade, disruption was the dominant narrative. Startups were supposed to upend entire industries overnight. Legacy companies were labeled obsolete before their earnings even had a chance to wobble. Growth at any cost was celebrated. Profitability was optional. Stability was boring. Then reality intervened. Supply chain shocks. Inflation spikes. Interest rate resets. Geopolitical fragmentation. Technology cycles that move faster than regulation can keep up. Capital that became more selective. Consumers that became more cautious. The post-disruption era is not anti-innovation. It is anti-fragility. And in this environment, earnings stability has become one of the most misunderstood—and most valuable—traits an investor can evaluate. This isn’t about avoiding growth. It’s about understanding which growth is durable. It’s about identifying which business models can absorb volatility and continue generating predictable cash flows even when the macro narrative changes. ...
There was a time — not long ago — when profits were optional. If a company could tell a convincing story about total addressable markets, network effects, or “platform transformation,” investors lined up. Earnings? That was a problem for the future. Cash flow? A footnote. Free cash flow? That was for dinosaurs and dividend investors who still used spreadsheets instead of vibes. And then something shifted. The growth premium — that magical multiplier investors were willing to pay for companies promising explosive expansion — began to compress. Multiples shrank. Excuses evaporated. Suddenly, “adjusted EBITDA before stock-based compensation” didn’t feel like a warm blanket anymore. The market rediscovered something radical: Cash matters. If you’re investing in a post-growth-premium world, the rules have changed. Not entirely — but meaningfully. And if you’re still chasing narrative without examining cash flow, you may be playing yesterday’s game. Let’s talk about what investing loo...