The big companies that many people look up to all started out using “black hat” methods. It’s nearly impossible to build anything of scale or stature without bending the rules, and this applies to every asset class, even highly creative non-online areas.4 L' R& D4 g& P9 ]- C
0 x7 K7 a+ c% r% R7 }& \The problem comes with the next generation of builders, who try to explain this away with rational thinking, arguing that the values and creativity that the companies stand for today are the same as when they started.$ g( I X; y7 z, ^6 R W) S
I see this across multiple asset classes, especially in the offline space. This is normal, this is the way of the game. ; W7 a* ]/ G E' c% ? 8 O9 g ^2 X4 X! |7 \# r8 B. ?: c[1] There was a mining oligarch who bought up foreign countries’ national resources at rock-bottom prices, extracted the cash flow, and then sold them to Western mining giants before turning to MMPE (I interned for that gentleman in 2016). : l! l6 m) X6 I, ?0 J' c" r" m: v
[2] There was a film executive who would buy scripts from screenwriters only to sit on the options without making the films, thus preventing other studios from developing them. , o/ y# X% c6 g0 s4 |2 { 0 b3 s0 Z. \, F; j. K/ ? A[3] One artist and a senior record company executive put talented artists into debt by producing their debut albums in order to prevent them from being bought out of their contracts.4 b- g0 R+ Z4 J& q
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[4] One multinational corporation assigned all of its first- and second-tier lawyers to prevent their poor plaintiffs from retaining proper legal counsel, forcing them to settle or give up entirely. % A8 J3 @, \; }6 [3 i( H2 ]9 w( y3 A! S6 I/ S! \
If anything, the world is harsher in the offline environment than in the online environment, where consumers are protected by credit card providers and regulators. # W" A5 p. I& M* i3 gThat's the way the game works. It always has been and it always will be.3 Q4 T5 L. V: S3 X+ l
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