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The lesson of deals is that if you have two, you have one. And if you have one, you have zero. In other words: the second bidder sets the price and ensures the deal goes through. If you only have one bidder, the price floor is zero. And the deal may not get done at all. Also holds for supply chains. If you have at least two independent vendors, you have one reliable supply chain. But if you have only one vendor, you may end up with zero margin. So: if you have two, you have one, and if you have one, you have zero. Caveat: optionality isn’t everything. The best long-term relationships (commercial and otherwise) are actually with just one party. If you switch too much, you don’t compound over time. Like the multi-armed bandit problem. Exploration (optionality) vs exploitation (commitment).