[_delirium]

It's a bit of a counterfactual, because startups with large traction having difficulty monetizing don't typically go bankrupt, but sell. But that doesn't prove they wouldn't have been able to monetize at some point, and leaves us guessing.

One example is YouTube; they lost huge buckets of money in their entire independent existence, until Google's acquisition completely changed the economics of their bandwidth costs. Would they have been able to become profitable if they stayed independent? Maybe!

Another one (perhaps clearer) is Broadcast.com. Never turned a profit in their independent existence; never turned a profit for Yahoo after acquisition, either.

[001sky]

It's a bit of a counterfactual, because startups with large traction having difficulty monetizing don't typically go bankrupt, but sell

Interesting side or foot-note was that myspace went from 600m to 50m, first purchases (enabling vcs to exit) and then disposed of (by its BigCo purhaser) after not monetizing.