In this article, David Esposito discusses five principles to consider when scaling data-intensive applications. These include limiting the scope of work, understanding your limits and runway, ensuring observability, leveraging integrations and tooling, and prioritizing mutual success. The author emphasizes the importance of focusing on customer pain points, having a clear idea of your application's capacity and stability, measuring blind spots, and using existing tools and frameworks to save time and resources. Additionally, Esposito highlights the value of partnerships and collaboration in achieving success in the tech industry.