January 6, 2026
Bread vs Cloud: pick your fallacy
Why Big Companies Keep Failing: The Stack Fallacy (2016)
Big bosses say “just an app” — commenters say “nice bread, wrong sandwich”
TLDR: Big firms flop when they assume building the next layer is easy, with AWS beating VMware and Salesforce outlasting Oracle. Commenters say winners are made by network effects and timing, joke about a “sandwich fallacy,” and warn that distribution matters more than tech, which is why this debate keeps burning.
TechCrunch dusted off a classic: “stack fallacy,” the belief that if you build the plumbing, the upstairs rooms are easy. Translation: big firms think the next thing is “just an app.” The piece cites Amazon winning cloud hosting (AWS) while VMware couldn’t catch up, and Oracle failing to dethrone Salesforce in customer software—even though Salesforce runs on Oracle’s database. Cue the Hacker News chorus: grsmvg says it’s not hubris, it’s math—network effects, first-mover luck, and saturated markets. dang drops receipts, linking past flame wars and proving this debate never dies.
Then the takes get spicy. taeric argues it isn’t about stacks—people underestimate hard work in every field, from apps to climate activism. wrs coins the fan-fave “sandwich fallacy”: great bread doesn’t mean you can run a sandwich shop. And austin-cheney vents that modern web dev stacks became “toxic,” turning simple apps into tool soup. The XKCD comic and Jenga image play meme DJ: pull one block and the tower (or ego) wobbles. Verdict: half the crowd loves the metaphor, half says it oversimplifies; everyone agrees distribution beats raw tech, and the rest just want a decent sandwich.
Key Points
- •The stack fallacy is the belief that building the layer above one’s core technology is trivial.
- •Database vendors often underestimate the complexity of SaaS, viewing it as a simple extension of their expertise.
- •Amazon, via AWS, dominates cloud IaaS despite competitors with strong lower-layer competencies.
- •VMware’s expertise in virtual machines has not translated into winning against AWS in IaaS.
- •Oracle has not beaten Salesforce in CRM SaaS, even though Salesforce runs on Oracle’s database.