>Its the same reason the market kills public technology companies' innovation and they rely on acquisition. The counter-theory is that as companies mature, the

>Its the same reason the market kills public technology companies' innovation and they rely on acquisition. The counter-theory is that as companies mature, they have to devote a disproportionate amount of time to maintenance. From that perspective, it's a risk-based approach to maintain the products and services that already have a market and instead effectively out-source the high risk operations of innovation. New companies don't have comparatively much to maintain, so they can focus on innovation. It's not quite such an either-or, but a balancing act. It's just easier to balance when you can outsource risk. >Average CEO is 58 years old. Their first jobs were in the late 1980s. I believe there's some neuroscience theory that may illuminate this. When we're young, our intelligence is more plastic and can more readily innovate. But as we get older it becomes more crystalline. What we may lose some of that novelty generation, we can gain in understanding the greater levels of experience. Experience is necessary for putting ideas in their appropriate context. I would argue that understanding context is more important at high, strategic-level positions.