In the mid 1700s, a group of people, tired of a monarch's rule, set out to build a startup—the United States. The settlers believed in a mission, built a culture, had incredible work ethic, and survived near-death many times. If you've been part of a startup, this will sound familiar.

When I think about scaling Albert, the financial technology company I run during the day, I look at other great companies that have scaled before. I look for lessons on growth, management, teams, making progress, and financials. Many times I come back to America as the greatest example of all— how the greatest organization in human history was built from virtually nothing in ten generations.

America, the startup

Every startup can look to the U.S. to understand what great looks like.

The U.S. has been exceptionally well funded by investors. The US raises money every single week in a treasury auction with ample demand. Imagine a startup so good that it can get a new term sheet instantly every week.

The reasons that the U.S. can raise capital maps to the reasons a great startup can raise money:

• Exponential growth: Real GDP has grown ~3% a year for the last 50 years. See the chart below.
• Cash flow: With a $30T GDP, and >$5T/year in revenue, the U.S. is a cash flowing machine.
• Incredible people: The U.S. consistently produces the world's top scientists, founders, athletes, performing artists, and more.
• Shared vision and mission: While the American Dream has evolved, most Americans still believe that they can build a great life in America, certainly more so than in any country in history.
• Scalable systems: The country's founders placed a system of government that has allowed the country to scale from 2 million to 350 million people in 250 years.

Problems on the horizon

What do investors look for?

Investors look for two things above all else, which the U.S. has shown for generations:

1. Growth
2. Perseverance

Exponential growth—growing as a percentage of current size—every year for generations is the story of the U.S. Few things in nature have exponential growth: bacteria, initial stages of pandemics, or rapidly reproducing invasive species. The U.S. has grown while keeping largely true to a shared mission and vision, as its people have persevered through rugged conditions, natural disasters, wars, mass immigration, disease, and more.

A startup with even near-exponential growth that persists over a prolonged period is exceedingly rare.

U.S. real GDP growth since 1975

As growth has exploded over the past hundred years, the U.S. has increasingly financed expansion with investor money. With >$30T of gross domestic product every year, the U.S. is able to borrow a lot. Below is the deficit that the U.S. government finances every year:

U.S. deficit as % of GDP and real annual GDP growth

Problems on the horizon

The income statement

The country's income statement is enormous. While the health of the income statement has deteriorated as spending has grown, there is magic to a startup with exponential growth: you can almost always grow your way out of any problem. It would not take much financial discipline for the U.S. to grow into recent spending, especially with the boom in productivity that AI will drive.

U.S. spending as % of GDP

Below is the the U.S.'s annual income statement as a spreadsheet: