3 ms·
There is a bit of chicken-and-egg here because as a former tech co-founder, i'd argue that much of the risk of entrepreneurship was ameliorated knowing a larger
by TuringNYC 7y ago
There is a bit of chicken-and-egg here because as a former tech co-founder, i'd argue that much of the risk of entrepreneurship was ameliorated knowing a larger player could acquire you if you do well. I wonder whether -- if FB/etc were not allowed to acquire budding successful startups -- whether
0. Founders would take the risk
1. Early engineers would take the risk
2. Angels/VCs would invest as much in them
In which case you get fewer/none Instagrams/WhatsApps, because the risk is so much higher if your outcomes are limited to IPO/cashflow-business/lifestyle
- aNoob7000 7y agoMaybe I'm going out on a limb here, but I think anti-trust in the age of tech and free services needs to be tweaked a little. Sure, Facebook can buy any company they like, but if it presents a danger to its core business like Instagram did, then the sale should not be allowed. Maybe Instagram wouldn't have survived without being acquired by Facebook, but let the market decide.
- outside1234 7y agoThis is why in the EU it is anti-competitive behavior that is targeted, not anti-trust.
- asr 7y agoActually the US and the EU both target anticompetitive behavior. The US law is older and so is call antitrust for historical reasons, not because of a legal difference.