Sure, but startups also tend not to patent their work. When one startup dies, another can make another attempt at the same thing.
(I'm not saying patents in the tech industry don't happen ever - at the last startup I worked for, I got three patents - just that they don't meaningfully limit the ability of other people to replicate the work or compete directly, the way pharma patents seem to.)
(I'm not saying patents in the tech industry don't happen ever - at the last startup I worked for, I got three patents - just that they don't meaningfully limit the ability of other people to replicate the work or compete directly, the way pharma patents seem to.)