Truly makes you appreciate the set of conditions that allowed SV to develop over time, and how difficult it is to replicate this elsewhere.
Isn't that prevalent in SV?
But it’s not clear at all that red tape has anything to do with the problems these companies are facing.
Considering that several of the companies mentioned in the article have corporate governance issue, arguably the problem is a lack of regulation. Or at least a lack of good regulation and/or implementation of the regulation, as opposed to red tape.
This is where the 'intense competition' is dangerous part comes from. After you have spent billions on subsidising prices for the customer, newer companies come, and do the same. The customers see no issues in now buying from the newer companies. The older companies find themselves in a hard position with no profits and big debts.
In India customers are loyal to only one thing 'cheap prices'. Thats all there is to this story. Many times even if there is no real competition, you are often competing with the customers mindset itself.
“Growth over sustainability” is a problem in proportion to how scarce funding is for your company size. (If you have a SoftBank willing to write huge series Z rounds then you can prioritize growth over sustainability for a decade.)
I would attribute red tape to only fintech companies. Ideally edtech should have had redtape considering how much rampant these VC funded companies ran riot.
Also, SV has these red tapes too. Bloom Tech -> California BoE anyone? Red tapes are not always a bad thing for the consumers, maybe for those following grow fast and break model.
Paytm : maybe UPI becoming a standard in Indian banking has something to do with it. UPI is a good thing.
Many schools also offer integrated JEE curriculum and testing.
It was a scam from the very beginning. Its like selling videos of tourist spots to people who can actually go to those places and see it themselves.