Comparing startups against small/mid-sized businesses is like comparing a lion cub against a house cat. People see them as the same when they look like they are

Comparing startups against small/mid-sized businesses is like comparing a lion cub against a house cat. People see them as the same when they look like they are equal, then their paths quickly diverge when/if growth kicks in. Many, many businesses are suffering in some way, and startups are not impervious to it either - a major question is who is able to suffer through this longer in order to come out the other side alive. The advantage of startups here is that they have more direct “supply lines” to capital to “hold out through the winter” whereas businesses relying on government help and bank loans are not in as good of shape to survive when depending on indirect third-party capital. Long-term, this sucks the most for non-venture backed companies if they can’t hold out and die, or make it through and are hampered with debt so much that they are handicapped from returning to normal for quite some time. Conversely, I think this is where investors and venture-backed startups will see an opportunity to thrive because they could easily “sink the damaged ships” and corner markets in a new wave of cheap M&A deals and market share growth.