The percentage change in revenue year-over-year — the most direct measure of whether a business is expanding its commercial footprint.
Deeper Explanation
Revenue growth is the engine that drives everything else in a growth business. It must be real (not acquisition-driven), organic, and sustained over multiple years to qualify as evidence of a compounding growth franchise. Growth investors look for companies consistently growing revenues at 15-30%+ annually — rates that can turn a small business into a dominant one within a decade. But revenue growth must be accompanied by improving or stable unit economics: revenue growth funded by ever-increasing losses is not a foundation for value creation. The quality of revenue growth (gross margins, retention, customer concentration) matters as much as the rate.
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