I imagine the startup/VC|Google relationship to be like my first girlfriend: neither of you is sure what it is exactly you're doing. She knows if you want anything to do with her, you've got to come take it. So you're going for it, but you're pretty sure if you act like a normal dude, she'll pass you up for that scene guitarist. The only option, therefore, is to be totally aloof, so as to create enough mystery that she'll bite.

EDIT: btw, it was a pretty mediocre strategy in the long run. Not sure what that means for Twitter, however

So the lesson is ... don't earn revenue?

1. Don't monetize. Hype yourself up to make it seem that monetization is trivial, but maintain that you're going for growth right now.

2. Monetize and hope to hell it's not a disappointment.

Once you try something, it becomes a 'known'. And for several startups that could be "we know we can't monetize this very well".