> I think many prospective founders, if their goal is money, should optimize for O(n) businesses from day 1.

Honestly, I don't think anyone "picks" the kind of business they want to run. You just kind of go with the flow. If you raise VC money, you follow their lead, if you're running a small bakery, you'll do whatever makes sense there.

So while this is a fun intellectual exercise, it's an exercise in hindsight. In the moment, you're really just trying to survive the day-to-day and not really "optimizing" for a specific growth pattern.