You remember earlier today how Amazon just put several startups out of business with their auto scaling and whatnot? Here's the lesson: if you own the platform

You remember earlier today how Amazon just put several startups out of business with their auto scaling and whatnot? Here's the lesson: if you own the platform, and the platform's growing, grow the platform as big as you can because you can always add tools for monetization later. When you add tools, they become the default. (example: Facebook Photos.) The mindset is totally different when you're growing a VC-backed company. The rational thing to do when you have capital to spare is to go for growth - it's just not the same as bootstrapping with a back pocket full of cash. You run the business differently. Plus, the minute you start making money, the metrics totally change. What's the metric Twitter investors use right now? Tweet views[1]. The only example I can think of that failed was eBay's BillPay and it turns out that PayPal was a platform with its own viral nature, not a mere feature (oh, and they burned $180 million before they hit breakeven[2]). [1]http://www.businessinsider.com/what-twitter-really-wants-from-google-2009-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/what-twitter-really-wants-fro... [2] http://www.pehub.com/40062/peter-thiel-on-valleywag-its-the-silicon-valley-equivalent-of-al-qaeda/ http://www.pehub.com/40062/peter-thiel-on-valleywag-its-the-...