Something about the Y Combinator thing reminded me of the Republican presidential race – those half-dozen “unicorns” that have yet to go public or be acquired, just sitting there hoovering up VC money on business that may or may not ever turn to standalone profit. And when you look at it that way, of course there are still fourteen candidates in the race. Rick Perry and Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker couldn’t cut it, but it’s not as if Mike Huckabee or Rick Santorum or Jim Gilmore – or Carly Fiorina or Ben Carson or Donald Trump, for that matter – are any more plausible or serious or qualified candidates. But when the pie is chopped 14 ways, if you can get to 10% share of the vote, you’re probably in the top 5, so where is there any incentive to drop out so long as your backers are willing to keep putting up money?
The difference is, unlike high tech, there’s going to be an IPO for these candidates whether they like it or not. One in Iowa, one in New Hampshire, and ultimately on March 1 when pretty much the entire SEC goes to the polls. By March 1, we’re going to know for sure that at least a half-dozen of these candidates are sufficiently no longer viable that their backers and donors will not be willing to dip into the wallet one more time, and their candidacies will come to a swift and ignominious end. I mean, I had completely forgotten that George Pataki is even in this race. None of the second-tier debaters have ever yet been promoted except for Carly Fiorina, in a move by the RNC that every single candidate would be screaming to decry as “affirmative action” had it happened on the Democratic side.
People can caterwaul all they like about government being more like a business, but at least in 2016, government has a deadline to shit or get off the pot. It’s more than you can say for Silly Con Valley.