I'm not denying what you are saying, but I think that by far, it is because all the easy stuff has been done.

I'm not saying that everything has been invented already by that cliched oft-quoted patent dude saying that EVERYTHING has already been invented. I'm just saying the easy stuff has been invented.

Allow me to give examples to illustrate my point.

First, the California Gold Rush. When it first started, in 1849, people would to to the Sierra Nevada Mountains and literally pick up gold off the ground. Bend down, pick up. But of course, that super easy gold was gone very quickly. Then, people started panning for gold. More labor, but still, a single person could earn money. Then people started using sluices to look for more gold from streams, but that require a lot more work than just a pan. And finally, that easy gold was played out. Then as the last step, the gold mining companies moved in. They had hoses and troughs and nozzles that created a huge amount of water pressure to blow away hilltops in search of gold and then sluice the water and dirt as it came down the hill. Hundreds of men, massive amounts of capital for the equipment. Lots of capital to buy other peoples' claims. Nobody really could just pan for gold anymore. Not really.

It's the same thing with the tech industry. I was there in the 1980s. Any one single person could develop a computer app and sell it and make money hand over fist. But at some point, a spreadsheet company (Visicalc) popped up and really popularized computers. But then, just like the Gold Rush, it took bigger investors to make better products. Microsoft, with it's hundreds of thousands of workers did create Microsoft Excel, and also pushed out Wordstar and other word processors with Microsoft Word. No single individual could compete.

Then when the internet came about, it was new, and Larry Page and Sergey Brin started up Google with only them and a Stanford professor, and Zuckerberg with Facebook and a few people. But now, you're not going to have an individual create another google or facebook or youtube. It is not possible.

It's getting to the point where the Gold Rush where great capital outlays are required. A single person is not going to do something amazing with AI or machine learning - all the huge companies are also doing this and there is so much money with the companies already there.

The only thing that could possibly change is a complete paradigm shift, which may of may not occur, or when it happens, who knows. It can't be predicted. So it's not going to be like I can sit around until next year and write a 1000 lines of code and make $200 million. Those days are gone. Huge companies are always on the prowl for small companies to buy their new tech out.

Another example is the auto industry. At the turn of the century, there were hundreds of car companies. Hundreds. And these companies where individuals and/or small teams. But now, in the USA, there are two - GM and Ford. And, of course, there has been a paradigm change with Tesla. But even there, you don't have room for an individual person to create what Musk did. You're not going to have hundreds of individuals creating automobiles. You have to have billions. Same with his other ventures.

It's the same with everything. It's the life cycle of industry, not a company.

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So it is not only the wealth, but it is the easy stuff has been picked up off the ground, and now it takes a lot of team work and capital.

And again, I'm not saying an individual or small group of people can't create a unicorn. It's just much harder. Someone can always luck into finding a small vein of gold in the ground.

Furthermore, I think I have read that the total number of startups has decreased significantly. Which goes to my point.

Also, one of the clear failings of capitalism has always been monopolies. Always It is the most glaring problem with capitalism. Which is why it is so imperative to break them up, just like the oil companies, and just like AT&T was broken up - and that instantly created a HUGE amount of competitors and innovation. But still, it was large companies for the most part.

So, yes, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, etc have to be broken up. Unfortunately, with all the graft and bribery, which they now conveniently call lobbying, I don't see this ever happening. But for sure for sure then need to be broken up. No doubt at all.