Hello, I am a new startup!
I’m funded by venture capital and free to use.
Please come and make me valuable by using me. Make my numbers go up!
Once you do, I’ll have everything I need and I can do whatever I want with the time and effort you’ve put into making me successful.
Not happy? Fuck you, I don’t need you anymore (network effects FTW, amirite?)… I’m laughing all the way to the bank.
Goodbye!
…
Hello, I am a new startup…
* * *
When are we going to learn to say “no” at the start?
A startup cannot enshittify if you don’t allow it to start up.
Once it starts up, gains traction, and the network effects kick in, you lose the power to do anything about it.
The only time you can kill a venture-capital funded startup is at the very beginning.
The way you kill a startup is by not using its free services at the start.
The correct answer to a venture-capital funded startup is always “no, thank you!”
If you want to understand how startups and venture capital work, go to 26:24 on the recording of my talk “Excuse Me, Your Unicorn Keeps Shitting In My Back Yard, Can He Please Not?” from 2016:
https://ar.al/talks/#excuse-me-your-unicorn-keeps-shitting-in-my-back-yard-can-he-please-not
@aral very interesting indeed. Will share that. 
/j Was expecting more disrespect to the CCC though, which is quite a let down. /J