The last man standing.

Is it about time people stopped treating 'unicorn' businesses as if they were created by superhuman beings? The vast majority do not deserve celebrity status and based on their P&L's they are often not geniuses. The only thing many of them have achieved is to repackage an existing solution, then raise a lot of capital and spend it extremely quickly on making a very loud noise, that's it.

I therefore argue that not all disruption is good disruption and that valuations that do not consider profitability are nothing more than a smoke screen.

If the 'disruptor's' model is unsustainable, their only strategy is to put competitors out of business and monopolise a market, thereafter the model has to change, the price has to go up and the consumer picks up the tab. So why do people hold them in such high regard?

Uber, Ola & DiDi are currently in a race to the bottom whilst trying to put traditional taxi's, other transport businesses out of business. Unless the consumer fights back and focuses on quality of service and value for money, we will be at the mercy of the last man (or woman) standing, which is not a good place to be.

WeWork recently brought its unsustainable circus to town. It is a prime example of a business that is bleeding cash (with losses of US$1.25bn between July & September alone) whilst trying to control a market. They are selling the dream of free beer and a cool work space at a fraction of the cost of actually providing it whilst simultaneously laying-off over 4000 employees and closing business units across the globe. Any business exposed to them, either as a landlord, supplier or client, is at risk.

Their widely publicised (outside of Perth) failed IPO which exposed these risks is there for all to see yet the local press in Perth are still giving them favourable coverage!?!

Isn't it about time our local press started asking questions of the disruptors rather than just regurgitating perfectly manicured press releases?