Lot's of Options to Scale...
...when your business makes companies
Idealab is often referred referred to as a startup studio. This means that they are a company that exists to build other companies. Entrepreneurship is their business model.
They are rather good at it too, seeing as they have helped build over 150 companies.
Looking through their portfolio of companies, it seems to me that they are trying to win the game through a series of base hits rather than a grand slam. Do you really need to be the next Amazon if you can churn out solid company after solid company?
Idealab is poised to grow their business through scaling since their business model is to generate profits by building companies. Their hope is that the companies they build become exponentially more profitable than the blood, sweat, and tears (and money) that Idealab put into them.
One way to do this would be to siphon team members off of already established companies, join these veterans with new Idealab hires, and start a venture in an entirely different industry outside of those captured by one of their portfolio companies. In this scenario, Idealab expands the breadth of industries their companies cover, and this added diversity is like additional insurance should one industry really tank.
Alternatively, Idealab could use these same mechanics to scale their presence in a particular industry that they already have a foothold in. This way, they continue to generate new companies (and turn a profit) while training the Idealab network to be better at building future companies in this space.