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Start-ups’ strategy: If you can’t beat majors, join ’em
History shows that Silicon Valley start-ups can get blind-sided by going it alone.
Digital-video-recorder company TiVo hoped to dominate its market by being early to play. Yet big players like SBC, Comcast or EchoStar, eager to exploit their ownership of the pipes and content to the home, have hatched competing products. Now TiVo is suffering defection of top executives and doubts about its future. Video-rental pioneer Netflix is facing similar pressures.
The lesson for some start-ups and their venture capital backers is that if you can’t outdo the major players, enlist them as your customers, investors or partners in distribution or marketing. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
By Matt Marshall
Mercury News
Full Story: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/10890100.htm
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