This is an excellent post. Have definitely learned some of these lessons the hard way recently. This line particularly resonated with me:
"If you have high retention and no virality you will sustainably grow your user-base over time. If you have high virality and no retention you will not."
You can still make a lot of money off high virality and no retention. You just have to recognize it for what it is: a cash grab rather than a sustainable business.
My thoughts exactly as I read the article. Some purposefully push retention to the side, looking to make the money big and fast rather than sustainable customer group.
"If you have high retention and no virality you will sustainably grow your user-base over time. If you have high virality and no retention you will not."