Post author here. I think that's more common in consumer startups without a clear path to revenue and profitability. I know it happens in the B2B world as well, but I don't believe anyone thinks 42Floors, Cratejoy, AirBnB, Square, or Casetext are on their way to an acqui-hire. It's certainly not our plan.
Buying from startups is not without risk. But buying from large vendors also carries risk. A diverse set of suppliers is a good thing.
Out of interest, at what point do you think a company stops being a startup?
Picking the one company from that list I am most familiar with, AirBNB has been going since 2008. AirBNB are now the people acquiring and shutting down / changing other startups!
To classify a company as a "startup" I'd go with either Steve Blank's definition (An organization in search of a repeatable and scalable business model [0]) or Jacobellis v. State of Ohio (I know it when I see it [1])
Sure, AirBnB certainly appears to have hit the scaling part. But I bet they're still trying to find new models and new markets. Hilton, Marriott, Starwood and others dominate the corporate travel market. Dropbox appears to be moving towards photo sharing on the consumer side and config/settings sharing on the tech side.
Startup, not startup. Probably irrelevant. I know that there's value in having companies who think like a startup as vendors. Procurement departments aren't structured to be allowed to think that way and I think that's bad for the companies they serve.
While "big" and successful, they are still young companies with startup ideals. Not simply legacy companies where every employee is long removed from the original drivers and mission. Just because AirBnB has a $1B+ valuation, doesn't mean it conducts business like IHG or Marriott. They still have startup values.
Buying from startups is not without risk. But buying from large vendors also carries risk. A diverse set of suppliers is a good thing.