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Great news for anyone who has ever sat nervously at a group dinner scanning the menu for the cheapest option (soup — it’s always soup!) and praying no one wants to split the bill: Quiet frugality is over and “loud budgeting” is in. The phrase — which means exactly what it sounds like — was coined by TikToker Lukas Battle in December. “Loud budgeting is a new concept I’m introducing for 2024,” he announced in a video that now has more than 1.5 million views. “It’s not ‘I don’t have enough.’ It’s ‘I don’t want to spend.’”

Venture capital isn’t the only choice when it comes to financing. When used wisely, debt can be a powerful tool for growth. In his new book, All Money Is Not Created Equal: How Entrepreneurs Can Crack the Code to Getting the Right Funding for Their Startup, (Wiley, July 20, 2023), Runway Growth Capital founder David Spreng provides practical advice and shares examples of how debt can be a powerful tool for growth. The following is an edited excerpt.

On Saturday, Elon Musk promised to sell 10% of his Tesla stake after 58% of people voted in a Twitter poll shared by the Tesla CEO. Yesterday, Musk began to follow through, exercising about 2.15 million Tesla stock options and selling shares to cover the taxes he owed as a result. Prior to this week, he has only ever sold Tesla shares twice—in 2010 and 2016—for pre-tax proceeds of $617 million ($593 million of that went to cover taxes he owed on options). Tesla’s stock has risen over 13,000% since his last sale, and Musk is now worth an estimated $281 billion (based on Wednesday’s closing price).