Before investing anything in a company, it is best to check if its incentives are aligned with yours. Because, in the end, values change — the need for money does not.

Companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google are fundamentally different from those like Medium, VERO, and Vimeo. They all have their visions stated on their about pages; yet, only the second bunch can really adhere to them while the first is just making wordplays. And the reason for this is much more fundamental than some would like to think.

Consumers Vs. Customers

As a result of their business model, ad companies have no…