> Accounting has notions of fixed costs and marginal costs. The startups you are referring almost all lose money on fixed costs, but sell things at per-unit economics which make sense at scale because they are below marginal cost/COGS.
Well yes, because they are selling software or other products which require a very high investment into R&D and have minimal marginal cost...
Other markets don't work like that so I don't think this is particularly relevant especially considering the a huge proportion or the majority of those startups (which received the most VC money) are yet to turn a profit (until they do it's still 'dumping' in this sense).
The same phenomenon takes place in traditional Industries as well without VC investors. If an established company comes out with the new product, say a medical device, it might not be profitable until they get their sale volumes up.
I think the key difference is how the price for the sold good changes over time, not the net profit for sales. If Your business model is to hold price relatively constant, but only see a profit when you hit your target market share, that's not dumping. It becomes dumping if your business plan is to capture Market share at a low price, and then ratchet up your price once you have displaced competitors.
Well yes, because they are selling software or other products which require a very high investment into R&D and have minimal marginal cost...
Other markets don't work like that so I don't think this is particularly relevant especially considering the a huge proportion or the majority of those startups (which received the most VC money) are yet to turn a profit (until they do it's still 'dumping' in this sense).