For what it's worth, I don't actually disagree. I was speaking hypothetically. The point was only that many people consider competition as a validation of a b

For what it's worth, I don't actually disagree. I was speaking hypothetically. The point was only that many people consider competition as a validation of a business model, and don't necessarily wait for profit (the only real validation) to act as that actual validation. In a lot of cases, this is valid. If you're a Venture Capitalist, for example, if you're waiting for a business to become profitable on its own, then you're not getting terms that are nearly as good as if you'd acted earlier. So even amongst those in the know, "validation" can be seen as something far less than absolute dollar terms, and may still be a valid rung on the ladder of decision making.