Not every VC firm expects 90% failures. As a very public counter example, Fred Wilson has stated that his lifetime failure rate is 20%. To get it that low, he

Not every VC firm expects 90% failures. As a very public counter example, Fred Wilson has stated that his lifetime failure rate is 20%. To get it that low, he most definitely had to pass a lot of profitable but high volatility opportunities. Highway 12 Ventures has 20 companies listed in it's portfolio, and 5 of them are already successful exits. Their portfolio is not large enough to allow for very low success rates, and their past experience seems to re-confirm that they do not generally invest in super-high-risk activities. Further, VCs are not interchangeable. They have different areas of expertise. This will lead to them investing in markets they understand, and often passing on opportunities in markets where they're less familiar, even if everything seems perfectly reasonable. Accusing them of being dishonest for noting that they routinely pass on good investments is absurd. I'm certain that they do so on a very regular basis.