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by version_five 1024 days ago
I'm super risk averse so I would never build a business around a single point of failure like that - but I know that there is money to be made taking this risk (at least VC money, presumably real money). Look at everybody building off OpenAI, look at AWS, Shopify, etc. I'll never base my business around a platform, but I'll miss out on many opportunities, even if it's a big risk.

All that to say the warning won't stop people.
2 comments
sneak 1024 days ago
The Apple App Store is a similar single point of failure and both Uber and Instagram would not have become what they are today if they had not built their businesses on the back of the concept that Apple will not arbitrarily ban them. When they launched, their web apps didn't exist (and you couldn't access gps or photos from web apps anyway, so their services were impossible except for via the App Store).

Then again, so did Tumblr.

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maxbond 1024 days ago
Cynically, if you run the gamut become hugely successful, the rules stop applying so strictly to you (eg banning Uber unilaterally would be a great way for Apple to create Android users, especially if you think about Uber drivers on iPhone) but become a moat to new challengers.
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quickthrower2 1024 days ago
AWS staples like EC2, S3, RDS are safe as long as you control the domain outside of it and have backups outside.
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