I usually compare them as sharks vs bottom feeders. Either you become the predator that eats all the big fish. Or you go somewhere the big fish won't go.
There's the 'crab' model, but this isn't for startups. They're old, companies like Yahoo who have a moat and can't leave it. They're at evolutionary peak or rather a local maxima. They're too difficult to change and a major change would make them too vulnerable.
An ecosystem analogy should draw attention to the fact that most biomass in most ecosystems is not in the apex predators but in the lower trophic levels. Apex predators are a useful regulatory mechanism for the ecosystem, not the be all end all of natural selection.
There's the 'crab' model, but this isn't for startups. They're old, companies like Yahoo who have a moat and can't leave it. They're at evolutionary peak or rather a local maxima. They're too difficult to change and a major change would make them too vulnerable.