I don't buy the arguments in this article. For example, the whole part about why Google failed with Google+ is just wrong IMO. It wasn't that Google wasn't capable of building a good social network. If anything, I (and most people I know) preferred the design and interface of Google+. The problem was that Facebook already had a huge head start, and all your friends were already there. Facebook was "good enough", and there wasn't a big enough incentive to want to switch to Google+.
If anything, large companies often miss out on new trends and changes in business and technology, but it's not solely because building that one new layer "up the stack" is so technically hard or different.
If anything, large companies often miss out on new trends and changes in business and technology, but it's not solely because building that one new layer "up the stack" is so technically hard or different.