alt Hacker NewsUS tech companies aren’t built to be like 3M is/was and able to have their hands in infinite pies.
The giant conglomerates in Asia seem more able to do it.
Google has somewhat tried but then famously kills most everything even things that could be successful if smaller businesses.
Replies
I think this is more of a result of big US tech being extremely productive (with their main competency)
Yeah, it is insane what areas and products companies like Mitsubishi, Samsung, IHI or even Suntory are involved in.
Think Google has done a pretty good job at that actually! Consider their various enterprises that weren't killed:
* Search/ads
* YouTube
* Android/Play, Chrome, Maps
* Google Cloud, Workspace
* Pixel, Nest, Fitbit
* Waymo, DeepMind
* Google fiber
They're not a conglomerate like Alibaba but they're far from a one-trick pony, either :)
I think there's something about both the myth of the unicorn and of the hero founder/CEO in tech that forces a push towards legibility and easy narratives for a company - it means that, to a greater degree than other industries, large tech companies are a storytelling exercise, and "giant corporate blob that sprawls into everything" isn't a sexy story, nor is "consistent 3% YoY gains," even when that's translating into "we added the GDP of a medium-sized country to our cash pile again this year."
Every time a CEO or company board says "focus," an interesting product line loses its wings.