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"Y Combinator seems to be the perfect place for mergers. Every winter for the past three winters, Y Combinator has funded a podcasting company. In winter 2017,

• joshdavham 2y ago
  Any idea why mergers aren’t more common? The article doesn’t really seem to have an answer to that.
  • debacle 2y ago
    How much should one company with a 40mm valuation and no revenue pay for another company with a 25mm valuation and no revenue?
    • joshdavham 2y ago
      Great point. I guess to say it more explicitly, the problem is that the companies are likely over-valued at the early stage and investors would see a merger as a sort of failure?
• josh2600 2y ago
  Mergers in business are like dating. You can't just throw random people in a room and expect that they're going to like one another. It's about establishing shared context. Mergers happen because there is a shared vision that is greater than the two separate companies. Smart entrepreneurs look at the mission and identify the roadblocks to that. Business is a collaborative endeavor. There are very few times in business where there is no way out (and in those moments, it's simply that a thesis was incorrect). You can always run a new experiment. I am reminded of this fine line from Sasha Shulgin "There are no casual experiments." Too often startup folk seek the easy way out instead of the path of least resistance. Be like water.