Even Venture Capitalists are now focused on the regulation issue.
http://www.wired.com/2015/05/leap-suspension-shows-regulators-are-watching-startups/?mbid=social_twitter
Regulators may be savvier about startups, but Silicon Valley has gotten smarter about dealing with regulators, too. Leap is backed in part by top venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which launched anew policy and regulatory affairs unit last month with the goal of ensuring that startups in the company’s portfolio are prepared to deal with regulatory demands—in other words, to get along with government, not defy it.
Leap, for its part, said in its Facebook post that the finalization of its “permitting process has been held up due to various clerical issues,” though it did not elaborate what permits were not complete. (Leap did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.) But the fact that it’s bothering to get them at all feels like a stepping away from the “move fast and break things” attitude that has generated so much Silicon Valley success but also earned it so much ire.
To be sure, the seemingly endless legal challenges faced by Uber, Airbnb, and their competitors haven’t ultimately undermined their businesses. Arguably, they are more powerful today than ever before. And Leap would not doubt like to find the kind of success those more senior startups are enjoying. “We hope to be back on the road in no time,” Leap said in its post. Just not, apparently, by taking the same route.