A bigger lesson might be "don't get caught until you're big enough to destroy the people suing you." Napster got shut down for widespread enabling of copyright

A bigger lesson might be "don't get caught until you're big enough to destroy the people suing you." Napster got shut down for widespread enabling of copyright infringement. So did numerous other filesharing startups, including Travis Kalanick's first startup, Scour. Lots of small startups get put out of business all the time for being sued and not having the money to defend themselves. Likewise, individuals like Donald Trump or Elon Musk get away with all sorts of illegal shit, because they are big enough to shut down the court systems prosecuting them. Google's genius was in staying under the radar and aligning their incentives with everyone that might dislike them, until they were big enough that they could simply crush anyone that might dislike them.