1) The early 2000 dot-com crash + the Enron crash that changed the regulatory landscape to make it harder for companies to IPO. This has resulted in start-ups being formed for the pure purpose of the acquisition route - fund, and flip strategy.
2) I see the Netscape IPO as the transition point - I like to call the eras, BN and AN (before-Netscape, and after-Netscape) which coincided with the commericialization of the internet. Netscape IPO with its cult of the young founder started this trend.
All you have to do is list the companies that were formed in the BN vs the AN era, and get a feel of the 'engineering quotient' of these companies. Of course it also coincides with software overshadowing hardware companies where the former requires less upfront capital than the latter.
The capital requirements have gone down even further thanks to virtulization and consolidated infrastructure services like AWS.
3) Paradoxically larger involvement of the state. All the UC system and other universities occurred due to the threat of the cold war. Almost all the success of technology companies since the 1980s' can be traced back to the investments made in the earlier decades in universities (eps. in STEM fields), infrastructure (inter-state highways) and so forth.
How the same forumula can be replicated is going to be a challenge. Some signs like allowing private companies like Space-X to compete and augment govt. agencies might be the first steps - it will create new markets that will drive innovation.
The American triangular replationship between the State, Universities, and Private Enterprise are the 3 legs of the proverbial stool, and when one or the other legs weakens, the whole edifice starts to stumble.
4) Larger numbers of H1Bs who are legalized indentured labor that makes it harder for them to be confrontational with their employers. Note I myself went thru. the process, so I am not your garden-variety bigot here. My answer to this is to streamline the immigration process to:
a) Delink H1Bs' from a spnosoring employer. Allow H1Bs' to freely move to any companies to allow a more fluid labor market.
b) Allow H1Bs' to start companies - i.e. if they get VC funded (as founders, co-founders or early founding member teams), they get immediate upgrade to green cards. DHS can keep a list of certified VCs' where this program can apply, and it can also get a % of equity as a one-time fee (along with other concrete fees), so the immigration department can be self-sustaining, and overall encourge more entrepreneurship.
c) Reduce the 6 year process to 3 years for H1Bs to acquire green-cards, and remove country-based quotas (a holdover from 1920s regulations to limit immigrants were certain undesired countries which is really an anachronism in todays globalized economy).
Note from an IRS pespective, you are as good as a American citizen or a green-card holder after the 6 months residing in the US - i.e. you are submitting full taxes as anyone else, and IRS treats you as a resident.
1) The early 2000 dot-com crash + the Enron crash that changed the regulatory landscape to make it harder for companies to IPO. This has resulted in start-ups being formed for the pure purpose of the acquisition route - fund, and flip strategy.
2) I see the Netscape IPO as the transition point - I like to call the eras, BN and AN (before-Netscape, and after-Netscape) which coincided with the commericialization of the internet. Netscape IPO with its cult of the young founder started this trend.
All you have to do is list the companies that were formed in the BN vs the AN era, and get a feel of the 'engineering quotient' of these companies. Of course it also coincides with software overshadowing hardware companies where the former requires less upfront capital than the latter.
The capital requirements have gone down even further thanks to virtulization and consolidated infrastructure services like AWS.
3) Paradoxically larger involvement of the state. All the UC system and other universities occurred due to the threat of the cold war. Almost all the success of technology companies since the 1980s' can be traced back to the investments made in the earlier decades in universities (eps. in STEM fields), infrastructure (inter-state highways) and so forth.
How the same forumula can be replicated is going to be a challenge. Some signs like allowing private companies like Space-X to compete and augment govt. agencies might be the first steps - it will create new markets that will drive innovation.
The American triangular replationship between the State, Universities, and Private Enterprise are the 3 legs of the proverbial stool, and when one or the other legs weakens, the whole edifice starts to stumble.
4) Larger numbers of H1Bs who are legalized indentured labor that makes it harder for them to be confrontational with their employers. Note I myself went thru. the process, so I am not your garden-variety bigot here. My answer to this is to streamline the immigration process to: a) Delink H1Bs' from a spnosoring employer. Allow H1Bs' to freely move to any companies to allow a more fluid labor market.
b) Allow H1Bs' to start companies - i.e. if they get VC funded (as founders, co-founders or early founding member teams), they get immediate upgrade to green cards. DHS can keep a list of certified VCs' where this program can apply, and it can also get a % of equity as a one-time fee (along with other concrete fees), so the immigration department can be self-sustaining, and overall encourge more entrepreneurship.
c) Reduce the 6 year process to 3 years for H1Bs to acquire green-cards, and remove country-based quotas (a holdover from 1920s regulations to limit immigrants were certain undesired countries which is really an anachronism in todays globalized economy).
Note from an IRS pespective, you are as good as a American citizen or a green-card holder after the 6 months residing in the US - i.e. you are submitting full taxes as anyone else, and IRS treats you as a resident.