We’ll never know, because investors, awash in cheap capital, anointed the winners rather than letting the market decide who should succeed and who should fail. This created a de-facto duopoly long before either company had proven that it has a sustainable business model. And because these two giants are now locked in a capital-fueled deathmatch, the market is largely closed off to new ideas except from within the existing, well-funded companies.
Beat me to it! Great title for the article.
Balanced with the author’s criticism are the steel-man version of the merits of “blitzscaling.” This article really does both sides justice. So many great parts, but what had me cracking up: