What the parent and original post seem to be implying is that simplicity, efficiency, tech stack (or lack there of), isn't what drives success in a business, it is instead the customers paying.

Sure having a modern infrastructure that is able to process thousands of requests per second is better than something that can only do a few hundred, but if you strip out a bunch of excess requests, you will process less per user, and thus reach the same level of scale on a less efficient stack.