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Were these apps made possible with VC money, or just made monopolizable? In a different world, I could see most of these areas spawning smaller companies—on a s
by tikhonj 3y ago
Were these apps made possible with VC money, or just made monopolizable? In a different world, I could see most of these areas spawning smaller companies—on a slower timeline, sure—if VC-backed companies couldn't use massive up-front capital to suck the air out of the room. We could certainly have app-based taxis and restaurant delivery without Uber or DoorDash; hardware and bandwidth have gotten cheap enough that we could have more Vimeos and Floatplanes instead of one big YouTube; Slashdots and Diggs and HNs without Reddit... etc.
- faster_harder 3y agoI'm hoping for a return of smaller communities and forums that were (more) common before facebook and reddit.
- NovaDudely 3y agoAbsolutely, it really was pouring gasoline on fire rather than the sole cause of the ideas. All the functions they provide would have turned up but on a smaller more sustainable scale, more like the older traditional companies of the past.
- jerrygenser 3y agoThey wouldn't have been able to support consumer scale without the up front capital. Otherwise they would need private betas and stuff but this would have not created the value of the same network effects and robust marketplaces.
- likeclockwork 3y agoA larger number of smaller firms each supporting the consumer scale they can sustainably and profitably support instead of selling below cost to capture the entire market then turning into hell when the bill comes due.