Startup capitalism seems quite different from traditional capitalism. Instead of profitability, the main qualification for a successful startup seems to be a g

Startup capitalism seems quite different from traditional capitalism. Instead of profitability, the main qualification for a successful startup seems to be a good story for investors. Then, with VC money in hand, traditional pricing signals can be distorted by subsidizing the service - sometimes for years. Whether the big business that results at the end of this process is viable, valuable, or even desirable to customers is impossible to tell until the subsidies run out and the startup has to try to make a profit. At that point no alternative may exist because smaller, independent competitors have been driven out of business by a series of VC-fuelled market distortions.