A reinforcing loop drives growth. Everything looks brilliant. Then, gradually, growth slows. Eventually it stalls entirely — or collapses.

This is the 'Limits to growth' archetype. The structure: - A reinforcing engine drives growth (more customers → more revenue → more investment → more customers) - A balancing constraint quietly strengthens as growth continues (market saturation, capacity limits, quality decline, regulatory attention) - Eventually the constraint dominates and growth stalls

The mistake almost everyone makes: when growth slows, they push harder on the reinforcing engine — more advertising, more sales pressure, more effort. But the problem isn't the engine. The problem is the constraint.

The leverage is in identifying and addressing the constraint, not in pushing the growth engine harder.