Roll-ups are back—and I’m not talking about acquiring funeral homes or HVAC companies. Venture capitalists are purchasing businesses in traditional sectors like healthcare, legal, and information technology and remaking them with artificial intelligence tools to lower costs. The strategy is to acquire or “roll up” similar companies in the industry, often with debt, to create growth. I’m not a fan. Amazon didn’t roll up local bookstores. Tesla didn’t buy Chrysler. Facebook didn’t buy yellow pages or local newspapers. The famous Facebook motto “Move fast and break things” is cute, but a better Silicon Valley mantra would be “Go around and…
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