>It seems no company is happy with being the virally adored single product little niche 50 employee powerhouse. There's Valve or JetBrains, which are not even

>It seems no company is happy with being the virally adored single product little niche 50 employee powerhouse. There's Valve or JetBrains, which are not even niche or small but very successful that have stayed private, focused and avoided money from the public markets. But yes the software industry desperately needs a Mittelstand economy. Probably won't happen without actually breaking apart some of the platforms though. Historically breakups have increased total shareholder value so it would even be a good deal for investors. In Spain for example where Uber is regulated they're essentially just a software vendor rather than trying to capture the market. If they were just a 100 person company licensing software worldwide that sounds like a more attractive business than what they are now. It's kind of hilarious how few people even manage to benefit from the system as it is, which is mostly just VCs, managers at bloated firms and people who get rid of their stock at the right time.