[edent]

I think this is what a lot of people don't get about taking funding from a VC:

> The grand but improbable plan called for shifting its entire platform onto a blockchain called Celo, another a16z portfolio company

(emphasis added)

I was at an advertising startup which got a massive investment from SoftBank. One of the people involved in signing the deal told me that the main benefit wasn't the $$$; it was that the other companies which were funded by SoftBank would be encouraged to use our services. And, of course, we in return would use our stablemates' services where we could.

Yes, money is nice. But becoming part of a mutually-reinforcing collective is the real prize.

In this case, it was obviously an attempt to stimulate a market into existence. We should all be grateful it failed!

[lupire]

It's a terrible idea (for the companies) that sounds clever.

It's one thing to offer your product to "friend" companies for dogfood feedback. But pressuring stablemates to use the product creates a fake product market for that distracts from building good product, and invites the investor to sacrifice your company to help a different one. But you don't have stock in that other company, do you? If you want the companies to share fate, merge companies.