[timjahn]

"What services are safe to invest time and money in using?"

Great question. I think in this situation, a company like Dropbox is probably safer, as they're a lot bigger in certain measurements (amount of funding, amount of revenue, etc).

I think the companies that have the most to lose are the safest to invest time and money in using. A small startup that just started 3 weeks ago is more likely to be sold than a company like Dropbox, in my opinion.

[amirmc]

> "A small startup that just started 3 weeks ago is more likely to be sold than a company like Dropbox, in my opinion"

I agree with the rest of your post but what you said above doesn't make sense to me. A 3 week startup is probably more likely to die than be bought whereas Dropbox would likely be a fantastic purchase (for anyone who could afford them). The aim of such Startups (at least if they have VC investors) is to sell the company at some point, whether that be to the public (IPO) or another company (acquisition).

[timjahn]

"A 3 week startup is probably more likely to die than be bought.."

Exactly. My point is that a 3 week old startup is more likely to disappear quickly (fail, get bought, etc.) than a company like Dropbox. Dropbox is a good acquisition target, but I think a company like that would take longer to do so.

As you said, a company like Dropbox could also go for an IPO, in which case, theoretically, they still provide the product that you're paying them for.

[kylec]

The problem though is that if everyone waits around for services to become established, then no service will be able to grow to the necessary size to become established.

[jfoster]

Users have to trade off risk of the service vanishing with the utility of the service. I think most users are already doing that when evaluating the products/services of startups. (or any business, really)

[timjahn]

Hm. True.

I think there will always be early adopters to help startups get their initial traction.