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I wouldn't call it fiction , it depends on which lens you see it from. For a team without the education /experience background in a developing economies or mor

I wouldn't call it fiction , it depends on which lens you see it from. For a team without the education /experience background in a developing economies or more traditional smb/micro saas product they are privileged. However no matter how much resources/help stripe got taking on PayPal still means underdog. Taking on trillion dollar companies like Amazon, Apple Google , MS or even Facebook, with enormous platforms and userbases even with couple of billions in the bank still feels like underdog. Tesla was and still is some extent an underdog in the automotive industry. The amount of money and support they could leverage from "paypal mafia" and other VCs while enormous doesn't make it an equal fight when taking on Volkswagen, toyata or GM. They are more likely to see from who is bigger than them rather than who is less privileged.

abernard1 5y ago
> Taking on trillion dollar companies like ... They're not taking on trillion dollar companies though. They're taking on small software players in their space and racing to see who can grow fastest. This, if anything, is the biggest failure in the Bolt CEO's argument. YC and VCs intentionally fund huge amounts of identical players in the same space all the time. It's like the adage with outrunning the bear: "I don't need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you." Throwing money at problems is how Bay Area VCs outrun other companies and American/international companies as a whole. Later though, disproportionate amounts of their returns are made on sector consolidation, and this applies equally to down-market dominance with the FAANGs. > Tesla was and still is some extent an underdog in the automotive industry. Tesla is a perfect example of just how silly the Bay Area VC complex is. Its history is almost in complete opposition to the software-first model promoted for a long time, and it still required massive government subsidies. And there's only one Tesla. For two decades the Bay Area (generously) has produced only one huge non-software tech company, and it left. There is no Bay Area VC tech future outside of software, and that low hanging fruit is gone.

abernard1 5y ago

> Taking on trillion dollar companies like ... They're not taking on trillion dollar companies though. They're taking on small software players in their space and racing to see who can grow fastest. This, if anything, is the biggest failure in the Bolt CEO's argument. YC and VCs intentionally fund huge amounts of identical players in the same space all the time. It's like the adage with outrunning the bear: "I don't need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you." Throwing money at problems is how Bay Area VCs outrun other companies and American/international companies as a whole. Later though, disproportionate amounts of their returns are made on sector consolidation, and this applies equally to down-market dominance with the FAANGs. > Tesla was and still is some extent an underdog in the automotive industry. Tesla is a perfect example of just how silly the Bay Area VC complex is. Its history is almost in complete opposition to the software-first model promoted for a long time, and it still required massive government subsidies. And there's only one Tesla. For two decades the Bay Area (generously) has produced only one huge non-software tech company, and it left. There is no Bay Area VC tech future outside of software, and that low hanging fruit is gone.