[william_T]

Y Combinator has helped the world realize that inspiration should go the other way--large companies should try to operate more like startups.

What is the survival rate of companies <5years? What is the survival rate of companies >50 years? The author himself points out that as your organization grows, you become more risk-averse. You have more to lose, but that also means you have something.

When John Qian throws 60% of his total assets at a problem, you can get a few intoxicated engineers to work hard at it and have a lot of fun doing it. What if Amazon, or Home Depot, threw 60% of their assets at an entirely new idea every few months? It doesn't make any sense.

Startups fail all the time because they are doing risky things. Successful businesses take less risk and fail less often. You're taking a strategy that has proven to not work and saying it should work.