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Can you name, say, three notable software businesses whose advantage was hard-to-replicate tech?
by powowow 7y ago
Can you name, say, three notable software businesses whose advantage was hard-to-replicate tech?
- eloff 7y agoGoogle (search), Microsoft (OS, especially early on), Dreamworks (rendering, animation), Oracle (database, early on before OSS database got good). It's the exception, not the rule though.
- powowow 7y agoMicrosoft licensed their early OS. Dreamworks led with SKG and the tech followed. Oracle always had meaningful tech competition and fought with sales/marketing. Google is pretty true, though.
- phonon 7y agoKsplice, kdb+, Google search, Mathematica
- streetcat1 7y agoYes. Any tech acquisition over 1B is never done for customers. For example deep mind from google. Just this week Intel bought Havana labs for 2B due to their AI chip hardware. Also, look at what AMD is doing to Intel. This is pure tech play (and pure moat). The underlying rule in play, is that the tech business is bound to "leapfrogging", I.e. a better technology can destroy companies almost overnight (see the case of Nokia). So hard tech is more important than customers. Look what Tesla is doing to GM, etc.
- powowow 7y agoI said software business, so I'm not sure why you're bringing up AMD or Intel. As for billion dollar acquisitions.... Visio, GitHub, Yammer, LinkedIn, Instagram, Parse, etc.... shit-tons of them are done for market reasons.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- streetcat1 7y agoRight, network effects are also moat.
- powowow 7y agoBut I thought you said nobody ever did large acquisitions for customers.... weird, I must be thinking of somebody else. Since it would make no sense for you to try to take both of those sides at once.
- streetcat1 7y agoWhy not. There are no sides here. There are different moats. If you want a more elaborate view: http://reactionwheel.net/2019/09/a-taxonomy-of-moats.html http://reactionwheel.net/2019/09/a-taxonomy-of-moats.html
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]