[GrinningFool]

The argument against it from GP (if I read correctly) was it would not be profitable to do that.

My point was that profitability isn't a concern of highly-funded startups. Growth is. So if they can throw enough money at it and pull those customers away, they've met the definition of 'success' as seemingly applied by many VCs - fast growth and on-paper potential. The cost and loss is much less relevant.

I shouldn't have said "long-term" as it added confusion. I meant 'profitability' in general.

I don't necessarily think that the market is large enough to attract those well-funded startups, but we're talking hypotheticals at this point anyway...