Yeah, I haven't read the article (paywall) but from the first paragraph or two it sounded like AWS invested in the company and launched a competitor 4 years lat

Yeah, I haven't read the article (paywall) but from the first paragraph or two it sounded like AWS invested in the company and launched a competitor 4 years later. To me, that sounds like the startup just wasn't able to perform well enough to beat an AWS-built solution, in the eyes of an executive. Of course, if I were doing a startup that played in AWS's space, I'd view them as a pretty formidable competitor and I wouldn't expect to get a great deal from an investment or acquisition from them, since unless I have a really special sauce they can probably build whatever we've done and sell it better. It's shitty, IMO, and probably drives startups away from a field in which they could sell to AMZN – since they know they won't get an awesome deal. Probably reduces innovation in the field overall.