The segmentation of the venture industry

A minor, off-topic quibble over the opening paragraph about Ford: it's mostly wrong, historically. Yes, there was a single "model", but that model came in coupes, sedans, and touring cars, as well as an option to get them with almost no body at all. Cheap wooden bodies were then put on the frame to turn them into farm trucks, delivery trucks, and other kinds of service vehicles and wagons.

Ford always had competition. They didn't start the automotive industry, far from it. Fords didn't win the big races; Stutz did, and Stanley did, and others.

What Ford did was come up with a way to provide really cheap, relatively reliable, easy-to-service transportation to a huge market that needed it, just before roads began to get paved.

Ford was the Wal-Mart of their time, complete with the same amount of competition and controversy.

One of the shames of automotive history is that so much of it has been lost to the fable of Ford. There were companies building hybrid delivery vehicles in the early 1900s, for example. (I like Ford, I occasionally spend a weekend working on my own Model T Speedster, but the rest of automotive history is really colorful and worth knowing about.)

I believe this segmenting is a good thing. VCs are now more knowledgable about the industry that the start up is in, and can actually provide more help and assistance, as well as evaluate the state that startup is in. Gone are the days where VCs mindlessly gives money to startups only to see them burn through it in less than a year before closing shop... hopefully.