Re: ... long potential lead times
Because at that early stage they needed VC money not stock market money, and VCs are looking for the next tech unicorn they can ride until IPO and cash out within a 24 month time horizon.
They don't want to invest in companies that actually MAKE things, because it takes a decade to get mass production going, build a market, expand capacity, etc.
With software they show the VCs a mostly finished product and all they have to do is put it on the app stores and if it becomes the next Tik Tok meme they can have 100 million customers overnight. Do you know how long it takes to build 100 million units of a physical object? How are you going to get rich overnight that way?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
