[ratg13]

So they gave up on what they believed in for money?

Not really the heartwarming david and goliath tale he is going for I think.

[avel]

I think your perception is incorrect in both counts.

They went bankrupt and saved the app by selling it to Warner and selling IP to Live Nation.

And it doesn't seem like he was aiming for a heartwarming tale, the last message says "we gave it our best shot" and he is disappointed that there is no big, healthy competition.

[wilsonnb3]

SV startups, founders, and investors don’t believe in anything except money.

How many times do we hear about a company completely switching what they do (“pivoting”) because it will make them more money?

[luckylion]

A more charitable read is that people paying you money means that you're doing something they want or need. If nobody is paying you anything that means they don't need anything you're doing, so why are you even doing it? "Pivoting" then is just seeing that people have a need that is currently not being satisfied and building something to address that.

[TedDoesntTalk]

I think your view of VC-backed startups is skewed. They exist to make the VC investors money. If they happen to change the world while doing that, that’sa nice secondary effect.