Coined by Reid Hoffman, Blitzscaling it is the deliberate strategy of prioritising extreme speed over economic efficiency.

In the standard syllabus, firms are assumed to be short-run profit maximizers operating where marginal cost equals marginal revenue. If average revenue falls below average variable cost, the firm shuts down. Blitzscaling throws this rulebook out the window.

A blitzscaling firm deliberately operates at a massive loss for years. They use immense venture capital funding to artificially subsidize the product, pushing prices far below marginal cost. The economic rationale is that in winner-takes-all markets—driven by powerful network effects—the first company to achieve global scale becomes an untouchable monopoly. Capital is weaponized as a barrier to entry; competitors are starved out not because their technology is worse, but simply because they cannot afford to lose as much money.

A perfect contemporary UK example is the boom and bust of 15-minute grocery delivery apps like Getir, Zapp, and Gorillas.

A few years ago, UK cities were flooded with riders delivering small groceries for less than the cost of a walk to the local Tesco. The consumer price was a fraction of the actual marginal cost of warehousing and labor, with venture capital paying the difference to buy market share.

But blitzscaling only works when macroeconomic interest rates are near zero and capital is cheap. When the Bank of England aggressively raised rates, the funding dried up. Getir bought Gorillas, and then ultimately pulled out of the UK market entirely in 2024.

For a top-band evaluation paragraph, blitzscaling creates a fascinating regulatory headache regarding predatory pricing. Standard predatory pricing is illegal, but because blitzscaling is funded by investor equity rather than cross-subsidized monopoly profits, the Competition and Markets Authority struggles to prosecute it. Regulators are left paralysed: do they intervene to save competition, or let consumers enjoy artificially cheap, VC-funded freebies until the resulting monopoly finally springs the trap and raises prices?