I learned a lot from not having success, and realizing when you do have success, how hard it is to maintain it, and what you have to do to maintain it.
It is also a good rule not to put overmuch confidence in the observational results that are put forward until they are confirmed by theory.
These companies know that at their current size they're not going to be big enough to have the necessary capital, and they don't have enough spectrum to get to the third generation.