"Move fast and don't pay taxes" or something. I think that's how the startup mantra goes.

Maybe it was "Break laws and avoid jail".. no hm...

Almost all of these companies have a single business model. Regulation arbitrage.

They break laws and regulations and then count on either having those changed in hindsight or having a valuation as a result of breaking those laws and regulations that is much greater than the fine they will negotiate down later anyways.

That’s the Uber model. Along with passing on unwitting costs to their employees, and not paying them enough because they call them gig workers.

Because it's worked well for Amazon (ignore sales taxes), Uber (ignore... everything), AirBNB (ditto), and a long list of other "existing thing, but on a computer" businesses.