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The venture-backed technology industry is nothing more than an extension of the financial industry, and anyone who says otherwise is lying or deluding themselve

The venture-backed technology industry is nothing more than an extension of the financial industry, and anyone who says otherwise is lying or deluding themselves. The guys on Sand Hill are getting their money from the same sources as the hedge fund managers on Wall Street.

superuser2 11y ago
Which is, interestingly, the American middle class. Some Wall Street money is proprietary, sure. But a pretty good chunk of it is our 401ks and institutional pensions.
- mooreds 11y ago
  > interestingly, the American middle class I would say, rather, "depressingly". I think the "arms length" chasing of return by pension and 401k funds (whether active or index funds) is a problem. Our money goes places and does things in pursuit of returns that we would never consent to if we had to knowingly make the decision. Out of which concerns have come socially responsible investing, triple bottom line and slow money.
- nradov 11y ago
  Pensions yes. But most 401(k) plans only offer mutual funds as investment options, and those in turn mostly only invest in publicly traded securities ( not VC funds). A few public companies have captive VC arms but those are pretty limited.
wpietri 11y ago
I certainly agree it is becoming that. The reason I think it used to be different and could be again is that venture funding is in theory about creating very long term value. You don't get a company like Amazon or Google or Apple by focusing on the next week or the next quarter, as is typical in the zero-sum-oriented financial industry. You get it by focusing on the next decade, the next century. You get it by finding ways to create massive long-term value for everybody, and then taking a modest slice. The trouble I see is that the MBA religion of "up and to the right" leads people to make a lot of short term decisions. In the short term, short-termism does wonderfully well. I'm hoping that the current dose of unicorn fever is temporary. But in my case it's pure hope; I don't yet have a reason to believe it.

superuser2 11y ago

Which is, interestingly, the American middle class. Some Wall Street money is proprietary, sure. But a pretty good chunk of it is our 401ks and institutional pensions.

mooreds 11y ago
> interestingly, the American middle class I would say, rather, "depressingly". I think the "arms length" chasing of return by pension and 401k funds (whether active or index funds) is a problem. Our money goes places and does things in pursuit of returns that we would never consent to if we had to knowingly make the decision. Out of which concerns have come socially responsible investing, triple bottom line and slow money.
nradov 11y ago
Pensions yes. But most 401(k) plans only offer mutual funds as investment options, and those in turn mostly only invest in publicly traded securities ( not VC funds). A few public companies have captive VC arms but those are pretty limited.

wpietri 11y ago

I certainly agree it is becoming that. The reason I think it used to be different and could be again is that venture funding is in theory about creating very long term value. You don't get a company like Amazon or Google or Apple by focusing on the next week or the next quarter, as is typical in the zero-sum-oriented financial industry. You get it by focusing on the next decade, the next century. You get it by finding ways to create massive long-term value for everybody, and then taking a modest slice. The trouble I see is that the MBA religion of "up and to the right" leads people to make a lot of short term decisions. In the short term, short-termism does wonderfully well. I'm hoping that the current dose of unicorn fever is temporary. But in my case it's pure hope; I don't yet have a reason to believe it.