U.S. Internet will shrink to 2 strong players: report | Technology | Reuters

Interesting Article.

From my (limited) experience with startup management (a few hardware folks, a few software folks, a few services people), I have to conclude that most did indeed have serious issues:

• Cash management does not equate solid financial analysis... what I have seen so far in most startups is a zealous attention to burn rate and a total ambivalence to actually operating as a business. When that day comes, run for the hills!
• Talent management, what talent management? We are all making fre%%& gadzillions, we must only have top talent!... in the words of one of my supervisors: "A great company learns to to extraordinary things with less than ordinary people". Companies in the end are systems, not people, because people swap in and out. Systems (romanticized as culture) stay.
• Product Management is the endless beta loop... well, good luck trying to tell paying customers that they bought a beta. As long as eyeballs drive the show, you MIGHT be fine, but as soon as the real work starts, customers want less excitement and more reliability. Take the iPhone: eye candy, showy, really stinks when trying to actually WORK with the darn thing. Give me a solid phone any day over that hyped stinker.

Not sure about the two winners this article picks. Amazon does not appear to be a better company, and I would like to see GOOG when the cash dries up just a bit and the perks go away... will they then learn how to live frugally or fold?

I do agree on the conclusion: Better to buy the product and gut the rest, I'd say.