Not a mistake. A calculated risk that didn't pan out.

The letter says that the takeaway at the executive level is a greater emphasis on building an all-weather business.

But frankly, investors often don't want an all-weather business. Lattice is a venture-backed startup. Having an all-weather business means being more risk-averse than you otherwise could be, which limits growth in the good times. Investors want a company that can quickly shed excess weight during a recession and then quickly grow again when conditions are favorable. That's how you get the high growth that attracts VCs.

Something tells me that most CEOs who commit to running an all-weather business during this period of contraction will conveniently forget about it when times are better.

In fact, they may use similar justification, that their hands are tied. During the downturn, it's "We had to lay these people off to make sure the larger organization can survive," and during a bull market, it's, "We had to grow rapidly to secure additional funding, which is necessary to make sure the larger organization can survive."