What is an example of a direct Stripe competitor that has been recently funded?
I think the gist of the argument is correct though - there are a few main horses like Stripe, Airbnb, Coinbase, Instacart that get funded by a swarm of SV insiders including YC and marquee VCs and then those same insiders have a strong incentive to block investment in direct competitors to those companies.
Competitors that do end up popping up are usually being funded by outsiders or smaller firms as mentioned.
I think the gist of the argument is correct though - there are a few main horses like Stripe, Airbnb, Coinbase, Instacart that get funded by a swarm of SV insiders including YC and marquee VCs and then those same insiders have a strong incentive to block investment in direct competitors to those companies.
Competitors that do end up popping up are usually being funded by outsiders or smaller firms as mentioned.