They could always be like IBM. IBM does very little well. We laugh about them here on Hacker News. But when the job is to provide cover if a project goes bad, actually delivering working projects isn't as important.<p>Startups could compete by assuring whoever the CEO is talking to that the problem is being addressed. Even if the solution barely works.<p>Plenty of these systems exist out there and make money. I am personally aware of two that claim to verify something about me that are absurdly incorrect.