“A lot of startups now are achieving really fast growth by essentially subsidizing the model cost to the end consumer — like giving away Nano Banana Pro for free. It's almost similar to the on-demand economy like Uber, DoorDash. Most of those, the unit economics catch up to you eventually. You have to be quite good at marketing and distribution and really lock users into the product if you're going to grow that way.”

Subsidizing model cost is the new Uber/DoorDash — unit economics catch up

A common 2026 distribution playbook: subsidize model cost (give away Nano Banana Pro, Sora, etc. for free) to grow fast. It works like the on-demand era — unit economics eventually catch up. Some hit escape velocity and turn users profitable, but only if you're exceptional at marketing and genuinely lock retention. Otherwise you're lighting cash on fire.