It is possible to have a growing bank balance and still build a business that is getting poorer. This happens when revenue growth outpaces margin discipline. The company looks busy, but each new dollar of sales produces less profit than the last.

The first culprit is pricing. If you discount to win deals, your revenue rises but your gross margin falls. If your gross margin drops below a sustainable threshold, every new deal increases workload without increasing profit.

The second culprit is delivery cost creep. As volume grows, scope changes, rework, and support overhead expand. If you do not track delivery hours per customer, your margin will silently erode. Revenue will climb, but profit will disappear.

The third culprit is overhead growth. New tools, hires, and perks can scale faster than revenue if you do not maintain a clear budget. Overhead is often justified by growth, but if it does not produce higher margin or capacity, it becomes drag.

Fix this by putting unit economics at the center. Track contribution margin per customer or project. Set a minimum acceptable margin and enforce it with pricing, scope control, and delivery discipline. If a deal does not meet the margin threshold, either raise the price or decline the work.

Also align incentives. Sales should be measured on gross margin, not just revenue. Delivery teams should track cycle time and rework rates. Leadership should review profit per customer monthly, not just topline growth.

Revenue growth is vanity if profit shrinks. Scale profit first, then scale revenue. That is how you avoid becoming cash-rich but profit-poor.