I think the other piece that's missing is that the role of corporations in society has changed drastically. I don't think they're fundamentally for the same thing as startups in the modern world. Paul's essay mentions large companies being less successful in the immediate future, but I don't think they're playing by the same rules, fundamentally.
Perhaps the closest example I can think of here is the transformation that happened in both Christianity and Islam with the rises of the Catholic church and the Caliphate, respectively. At a certain point their religious function became incidental. They were by and large instruments which brokered in power and influence.
You can see a similar pattern in governments founded through populist revolutions based on ideologies as they've transformed into world powers. Liberty, as such, has for quite a while ceased to be the primary function of the US or French governments.
In the same sense, I believe that the modern trans-national corporation has ceased to be an entity that exists primarily for the propagation of products and services: they are also brokers of power and influence. There was a first colonial phase starting at the middle of the last century where corporations became powerful political influence outside of their own home territories and since the 70s or 80s they've extended to becoming powerful forces even within the machines of the modern super-powers. Drawing another analogy, what I believe the modern renewal of small companies is effectively a reformation akin to what's been seen in religious institutions, where there's a sense of things getting back to the ideals. I feel like it's still too early in history to see if this will be a fundamentally disruptive change, or merely a blip in the growth pattern. Again, history provides some examples there for example in the Wycliffe-ian or Hussite movements, which preceded the more dramatic changes of the reformation and counter-reformation (and before those movements themselves began creeping towards instruments of power). The real reformation may still be yet to come.
Perhaps the closest example I can think of here is the transformation that happened in both Christianity and Islam with the rises of the Catholic church and the Caliphate, respectively. At a certain point their religious function became incidental. They were by and large instruments which brokered in power and influence.
You can see a similar pattern in governments founded through populist revolutions based on ideologies as they've transformed into world powers. Liberty, as such, has for quite a while ceased to be the primary function of the US or French governments.
In the same sense, I believe that the modern trans-national corporation has ceased to be an entity that exists primarily for the propagation of products and services: they are also brokers of power and influence. There was a first colonial phase starting at the middle of the last century where corporations became powerful political influence outside of their own home territories and since the 70s or 80s they've extended to becoming powerful forces even within the machines of the modern super-powers. Drawing another analogy, what I believe the modern renewal of small companies is effectively a reformation akin to what's been seen in religious institutions, where there's a sense of things getting back to the ideals. I feel like it's still too early in history to see if this will be a fundamentally disruptive change, or merely a blip in the growth pattern. Again, history provides some examples there for example in the Wycliffe-ian or Hussite movements, which preceded the more dramatic changes of the reformation and counter-reformation (and before those movements themselves began creeping towards instruments of power). The real reformation may still be yet to come.