The (bad) article discounts at least the following: 1. Often acquisitions thrive under their new overlords (think android, youtube, instragram). They might als

The (bad) article discounts at least the following: 1. Often acquisitions thrive under their new overlords (think android, youtube, instragram). They might also need the financial resources of the purchaser to aim higher. 2. Acquisitions increase the # of potential angel investors, which leads to more money for startups. Look at what PayPal's acquisition has done for innovation (it's famous "mafia" ended up funding and/or founding Facebook, Tesla, Palantir, Spacex etc.) 3. An acquisition culture leads to more examples of successful founders, which leads to more people wanting to be founders.