"... but it's more common for companies to go to the advertising trough because it's seemingly so easy." Easy and lucrative once you're big enough and to get b

"... but it's more common for companies to go to the advertising trough because it's seemingly so easy." Easy and lucrative once you're big enough and to get big enough, you probably have external investors (who've trodden the path before and know the likely outcomes). The sad thing is that while we may see lots of disruptive innovation in tech, we see much less innovation in the business models that follow (though please do correct me if I'm wrong!).