Agreed! I’m not disagreeing with you, just adding color. Often times the language of decentralization conjures images of a social utopia, power to the people sort of idea. But the current model of decentralization is being driven by giants that become more powerful as they grow.

Your point that they need to continue creating value in order to persist is well made. I just am wary of what the new normal around monopolies will being. There are two arguments these days:

1. Startups are in trouble because they can’t compete with the giants that have near unlimited resources combined with nimble teams and a willingness to take risks (unlike their older, more brittle predecessors)
2. Startups will be forced to innovate in different, deeper fashions. The market won’t sustain the number of new startups we saw in 2010–2014.

Neither point is actually mutually exclusive. I think both will turn out to be true and perhaps that’s a good thing. Time will tell.