<story><title>A two-person startup already uses twenty-eight other tools</title><url>https://acrossapp.com/blog/how-a-2-person-startup-already-uses-28-other-tools</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>matsemann</author><text>Not exactly the same, but I have sometimes wondered how many startups are just burning other startups&amp;#x27; money, and would collapse if VCs tightened the belt.&lt;p&gt;For instance, startup X seems profitable but all revenue is from other startups not making money yet. Like a big ponzi scheme of sorts. Most products mentioned in the article are now mainstream, but for lots of them a few years back they were small and only used by other small startups.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mcintyre1994</author><text>I used to think this every time I downloaded a free mobile game. Probably 90%+ of ads in mobile games were for other free mobile games that presumably also have the same ad-supported model and the same sort of advertisers. It feels like there&amp;#x27;s a few games making heaps from IAPs and everyone else is just advertising in a pyramid toward them while also using IAPs in a way that makes their own game basically unplayable.</text></comment>
<story><title>A two-person startup already uses twenty-eight other tools</title><url>https://acrossapp.com/blog/how-a-2-person-startup-already-uses-28-other-tools</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>matsemann</author><text>Not exactly the same, but I have sometimes wondered how many startups are just burning other startups&amp;#x27; money, and would collapse if VCs tightened the belt.&lt;p&gt;For instance, startup X seems profitable but all revenue is from other startups not making money yet. Like a big ponzi scheme of sorts. Most products mentioned in the article are now mainstream, but for lots of them a few years back they were small and only used by other small startups.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>fyfy18</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t think it adds up to that much, compared to the cost of developers. Where I live in Eastern Europe, a single mid-level developer would cost at least $5k&amp;#x2F;mo once you take into account taxes, office space and benefits. In SV I guess you are talking well over $20k&amp;#x2F;mo. $20k&amp;#x2F;mo is a lot of software.</text></comment>