Since neither Flow nor Asana are innovative ideas for a startup, they basically ended up competing in a zero-sum game trying to out spend each other in marketin

Since neither Flow nor Asana are innovative ideas for a startup, they basically ended up competing in a zero-sum game trying to out spend each other in marketing and features. That is why innovation and finding a niche with loyal users are key ingredients for startups. But in SV, you can keep pumping money onto a mediocre ideas/products round after round and increase it's valuation. Basically drying out the competition (our author in this case) and pushing their products down the market throat using sheer force powered by marketing and developers VC supplied capital.