> The SV expectation/mentality that if someone builds something first they "own" that space is unjustifiable. I'm not say you are saying that, but it is an implicit attitude in the Valley.
First I wanted to say I think this is a bit of a non-sequitur because it's not like Stripe invented a new space here, they entered a crowded space which had already seen relatively recent innovation from PayPal and Braintree in preceding years.
But then I got thinking some more and I don't know where you get this idea that there is an implicit attitude that anyone owns anything in SV. Sharing of ideas and me-too companies are everywhere in SV. Sure people consider it kind of a douchey move to do a clone of your friends company after he shared his whole execution plan with you, but I don't think that indicates anywhere near as strong of an implicit ownership as you are describing.
The bottom line here is not that MasterCard are in the wrong, or that it's not beneficial to the ecosystem as a whole, but just that they don't deserve any special applause for some pointy hair somewhere deciding "OMG Stripe are going to eat our lunch, put your 100 best engineers on reverse engineering this API posthaste!"
First I wanted to say I think this is a bit of a non-sequitur because it's not like Stripe invented a new space here, they entered a crowded space which had already seen relatively recent innovation from PayPal and Braintree in preceding years.
But then I got thinking some more and I don't know where you get this idea that there is an implicit attitude that anyone owns anything in SV. Sharing of ideas and me-too companies are everywhere in SV. Sure people consider it kind of a douchey move to do a clone of your friends company after he shared his whole execution plan with you, but I don't think that indicates anywhere near as strong of an implicit ownership as you are describing.
The bottom line here is not that MasterCard are in the wrong, or that it's not beneficial to the ecosystem as a whole, but just that they don't deserve any special applause for some pointy hair somewhere deciding "OMG Stripe are going to eat our lunch, put your 100 best engineers on reverse engineering this API posthaste!"