[GreenWatermelon]

> the companies that died because acquiring them was too much of a hassle

So it was a shitty non-viable business

> the companies that died or never got funded / started because the investors couldn't see and exit path

More shitty non-viable business. Creating a company only to sell it and screw over your customers is evil.

Maybe those founders should try to make real businesses, instead of playing glorified rollette.

> the companies that got acquired piecemeal (Windsurf, Inflection), leaving the early employees with NOTHING simply to avoid the ire of anti-trust hawks at the FTC

Plain-old loop hole exploitation. Simple anit-competetive stealth aquihire that isn't called so. My conclusion is that the market needs more regulations.

Does your ideal market only contain 5 or mega-corps that control every aspect of our lives?