Vertically Integrate or Die

Today Grant reads his latest essay on the topic of vertical integration. Vertical integration has been the topic de jour the last few days — leading to some energized back and forth on X. One position that kicked off the frenzy centered on the idea that “too many startups vertically integrate without any real strategic reason.” Honestly we’ve enjoyed it. But I think a lot of the conversation is missing something fundamental. So I want to share how we think about it at Cantos, informed by what we’ve seen work (and not work) across our portfolio and the broader ADCU. 🔗 Show Resource Links Vertically Integrate or Die Post on X Original post that sparked the essay 🎙️ Podcast Links ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠ ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ ⁠⁠⁠X (FKA Twitter)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ 🌀 About Motion Blur Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is a Partner at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts: Grant Gregory, ⁠⁠⁠@grant__gregory⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Embers⁠⁠⁠ Hammad Aslam, ⁠⁠⁠@_hammad_aslamh⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Susa Ventures⁠⁠ If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes. Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠ Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.