Umbrellas

I am growing concerned about the new age of what I am calling Tech Umbrellas: very large and very rich companies buying up all the great smaller companies. This seems like a trend that will not be sustainable in the long run. There are more companies being created now than any time period in the past, and this will only speed up as technology enables brilliant minds to start their own thing. Some may be a little misguided, some may just not be built for the right time, but the important thing is that they are being created and those creations give us choice. We have choices when it comes to buying our products. Depending on what market you look at, this may not seem as apparent, but choices do exist. Something that is seeming to become more the rule rather than the exception, however, is creating for the sake of selling. (Before you get all up in a huff, I like money just as much as anyone else, so I am not trying to get up on some soapbox about money. This post is simply an observation.) There have been at least 10 companies within the last 12 months that had what I thought was a sustainable model for being successful, and I had fallen in love with them, only to see them purchased and shuttered by larger companies. This left major holes in those markets which often times were not filled, as “entrepreneurs” were chasing the next market that was rumored to be on the auction block for those larger than themselves.

As I said already, this post is merely an observation. I propose no answers nor solutions. This is meant more to start a dialogue. What does this mean for you, for me, for everyone? If every winning innovation gets swept up into the large Umbrella, what are we left with? If we don’t like what the Umbrella is offering, do we simply hang our head and make the choice of no choice?

The tech world cannot sustain its growth on ads alone.