Let me offer an example that might help explain what I mean. About 20 years ago I worked for a high tech company with something like 50 employees. I was thrilled when I started working there because it seemed that it was a very well run company. The working environment was positive. The product they delivered was high quality. Everyone was paid well and had no reason to be unhappy.
About a year after I was hired, the owners sold the company to a much larger conglomerate. In fact, the buyers had competed with us in some markets. Well, it turns out they bought us just for the intellectual property. They methodically dismantled the company and shut it down over the course of two years. I was heartbroken. What a waste of probably the best organization I had worked for (so far.)
But, in just a few years, two other companies were formed by the unemployed employees. I went to work for one of them and it turned out to be an even better place to work than the old one. It was more progressive, better focused, and way faster on its feet. It was the same talent as before, but put to much better use. (BTW, I'm not just talking about engineers. A lot of the production people and office staff were rehired.)
One day a bunch of us that had worked at the old company were talking. I commented how much I liked working there and how sad I was that it's gone. I was reminded that if it hadn't have been sold, then we wouldn't be standing there together on that day doing even better things.
Anyone from the Rochester, NY area knows that Kodak was king here for decades with Xerox also having a huge presence and impact on the local economy. Well, both of those companies are effectively gone now, and a lot of people got hurt when they fell. But Rochester is now the "silicon valley" of optics. Many dozens of smaller companies have been started by former employees of Kodak, Xerox, and Bausch & Lomb.
One of the companies that I do consulting for is developing a point-of-care device for testing blood, urine, etc. It about the size of a Keurig and can potentially replace giant multi-million dollar machines that are the size of an SUV. The idea is that there could be one in every doctors office (for example.) Then, when your doctor orders a blood test, instead of driving to some blood collection facility where they draw blood and send it off to a lab somewhere for testing, the nurse in the doctors office will prick your finger, collect one drop of blood, and you'll have the results of the test before you leave the examining room.
The person that invented the technology is a professor at NYU, but the company is near Rochester NY. Why? Because of all the expertise in microfluidics that lives here. These are the people that once developed inkjet printers for Kodak and Xerox, and are now available to develop medical devices that can change the world! I'm sad that Kodak failed. Many people in my family worked there and suffered as it slowly sank. But, I'm thrilled that I'm able to work with people creating something even better than inkjet printers.
The king is dead! Long live the king!