&gt; Ubers and airbnb&#x27;s<p>Uber and airbnb were not profitable right away but their mechanism for making money couldn&#x27;t have been clearer.  Uber -- sell rides, get a cut.  Airbnb -- sell places to stay, get a cut.  These were not &#x27;let&#x27;s get a bunch of users and see what happens&#x27; kind of deals.<p>That&#x27;s exactly why Homeaway and SpareFoot got funded.  Still a hard problem building that two sided marketplace and reaching profitablity...still a risk.  But the mechanism for making money couldn&#x27;t be clearer.<p>A better example would be Waze.  Offers great value but how how do you capture that in terms of profit for the company?  Waze would probably not have been funded.  But it worked out since they were acquired.  But counting on getting acquired is a sure way &#x2F;not&#x2F; to get funded in Austin.  The business has to stand alone.