[FirmwareBurner]

I think everyone knew, even without looking at any data, that startups were in a bubble thanks to Covid, when every "shoeshine boy" was studying to be a webdev at a start-up.

Like how many food delivery apps that are actually profitable can the economy handle?

[TylerE]

I think the real real giveaway is that like 90% there's a big exit, it's an aquihire and the "product" is quickly dumped.

[JCM9]

Yep. Many / most aquihires are pretty ugly financially. While the headline sounds impressive (“X startup acquired for $250M”) the reality is that with preferred cap tables and terms most folks see nothing and investors are merely trying to recoup some losses or make a modest (less than S&P500 index fund return) return on investment. It’s basically a fire sale to salvage what’s left from the wreckage.

Founders might get a little something and most shareholder employees get nothing.

[nkingsy]

Don’t they usually get a better stock package than the average new hire?

[gdbsjjdn]

In my experience what the founders usually get is a bigger locked up retention package. The investors want the cash, and the acquirer wants the founders to stay.

[mandevil]

The employees along for the ride on an acquihire? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends a lot on how generous the founder/target of the acquihire is.

[dsr_]

The problem is usually not "there are 300 food delivery services" but "there are three food delivery services and they control the market".

[PhantomHour]

It's a business model problem; The "Uber" business model relies on a monopoly.

The business model is 1) "Have artificially low prices to push all competing business into bankrupty", 2) "Now that we're a monopoly, raise prices massively", 3) Massive profit, so long as no government starts doing anything about the fact that both steps #1 and #2 are illegal.

That business model fails the moment you have multiple startups dumping the market, none can move to step #2 because they'd bleed all their users to whichever competitor is still in step #1.

[dheera]

It's restaurants that don't want to deal with 300 apps. They will pick the top 3 and call it a day.

[dsr_]

.. and that's also a problem.