Possibly, but it would've taken a lot longer to get there without the VC that demands continued growth. Fast followers might've hurt them sooner if they didn't

Possibly, but it would've taken a lot longer to get there without the VC that demands continued growth. Fast followers might've hurt them sooner if they didn't have the resources to quickly iterate the product. It is interesting to examine the strategies by which you can stay small and focused in a tech hardware market — capital requirements make it difficult or at least slow to do without that fundraising millstone.