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Have those random business ideas grown to anything like billion-dollar companies (adjusted for inflation) before everyone realized that oops, actually these thi

Have those random business ideas grown to anything like billion-dollar companies (adjusted for inflation) before everyone realized that oops, actually these things won't turn a profit? It's a fair argument to make that low interest rates (with can be thought of as a proxy for 'too much money chasing too few opportunities') take random ideas and inject them with far too much money. (Airline industry is a special case, eventual "failure" is part of the business plan, so leave those aside.)

obblekk 4y ago
I'm not sure why airlines should be excluded. They were the "growth at all costs, we'll make it up on volume" business of the 70s and 80s. More capital invested than ever returned over 40 years. Other businesses like this: franchise restaurants (many, many failed), motels, car rentals (you can see the gold rush in supporting the new tourist economy back then).
majormajor 4y ago
> (Airline industry is a special case, eventual "failure" is part of the business plan, so leave those aside.) You could make this statement about today's "unicorns" too, once you start excluding things. If you're cynical, be cynical equally. WeWork? Classic "greater fool" "let it fail after we cash out" company. Many others out there too. Crypto? 10000%. I'm sure there will be a bunch of "obvious failure in retrospect" companies in a large-language-model wave too.