They can only do this if they're starting from a decent financing scenario, which they hardly ever are. Most of the companies founded this way have to do work-f

They can only do this if they're starting from a decent financing scenario, which they hardly ever are. Most of the companies founded this way have to do work-for-hire projects, and that relies on a "Goldilocks" work pipeline where there isn't too much or too little, because either extreme threatens payroll or creates staffing pressure. A company that gets a fat check to go conquer the world is one that is engaged with the demands of the investment market to seek maximal growth or ROI or whatever metric the investors are looking for. This is derived from the overall investment landscape, which went from "easy money" to "infinite money" during the pandemic. When you are in an infinite money environment your goal is, essentially, to consolidate everything you see into your org. The only thing small players can do is try to get acquired. As long as the brakes are on the dollar, the trend will stay reversed and companies will downsize to fit a smaller capital structure.