One sign of a generation-defining company is possessing a real 'mafia' that produces an entire generation of builders in the space, many of whom may well go on to equal or even overshadow the original company (e.g. the PayPal mafia).

One sign of a generation-defining company is possessing a real 'mafia' that produces an entire generation of builders in the space, many of whom may well go on to equal or even overshadow the original company (e.g. the PayPal mafia). https://t.co/6UJvD6TLDp

Measuring things at @spindl.

My FID is lower than all but 52 of you.

The inverse is also true: if there's no mafia, the company probably isn't that industry-defining, at least in its second-order effects. 

I once got into very big trouble with Facebook OGs by citing that there wasn't really a 'Facebook mafia' in the Valley (that's changed a bit).

Counter example: Apple , Microsoft. No mafia. Very industry defining. 

Think the notion of a mafia is a very limited notion.

Those companies were founded in the Late Bronze Age.