Consider for a moment where self-driving-car technology would be w/o Google subsidizing it. Or mapping technology. Or like a dozen other technologies. Were these supposed to pop up w/ VC struggling from round to round? Many of the VC backed companies themselves have a put option of being acquired by Google/FAANG -- so if that exit is gone, it would be even worse.
Worse for whom? As a customer, I groan every time a product I use gets acquired by FAANG because I know it's going to get shuttered in a few months.
Edit: Or in the case of large acquisitions like Instagram slowly integrated with the parent company's shitty products.
Worse for those in the real world where you have payroll obligations, rent, AWS bills, health insurance, and mortgages.
As a customer I feel the same way. However, having been a co-founder and CTO of a startup, let me tell you the real story:
- Most startups are not like snapchat, they are not once-in-a-generation unicorns.
- Most startups have huge burn, especially consumer-entertainment type startups (imagine how much network bandwidth YouTube was burning before Google purchased them.)
- Startups are at the mercy of funding rounds and sometimes the market itsself can get away from you, through no fault of your own startup
- FAANG provide a put option -- "whats the worse that can happen? we get acquired by X" which allows people to take on more risk while trying to swing for the fences.
- It is arguable how long darling consumer apps could survive as independent when consumers often dont want to pay money. It is a catch 22 -- the startup is told the product has to be free but they are also not allowed to seek bigger coffers to actually subsidize it
So in the end -- sure, I agree with you, but who pays? Esp if this is something massive with network effects. Perhaps I can pay for WhatsApp, but can my grandma pay for it with her meager overseas salary? And if she cannot, how is the network sustainable?
I'm not saying I disagree with you, but I dont know what the solution is other than the current one.
As someone who's not used Google services since 2016... it's still the one Google property I can't really escape, because nobody is posting their content anywhere else.
Netflix
Hulu
Disney+
AppleTV+
Peacock
Vimeo
Twitch
Maybe in the most narrow of definitions. IG/FB and Tiktok are huge competitors in the video space, Tiktok being the dominant platform if you focus on short form video.