Actually, it's the VCs' fear map that changes most radically. (Hire enough associates, and you can call 20 customers/prospects/former associates in an afternoon

Actually, it's the VCs' fear map that changes most radically. (Hire enough associates, and you can call 20 customers/prospects/former associates in an afternoon.) In boom times, VCs cut short their due diligence because if they dawdle or seem too skeptical, they won't get to be in the next Theranos round. In jittery times, VCs check everything because otherwise they will be in the next Theranos round. I saw an echo of this with mortgage appraisals. In the housing bubble, we got refinanced one time with an appraisal that didn't involve stepping inside the house. The appraiser just took two photos from the street and didn't even ask me if the home was habitable. After the housing finance crack-up, the next appraiser not only walked through every room, he clicked dozens of photos of everything from our smoke detectors to the straps holding on the hot-water heater. It was almost like having a crime-scene photographer pay us a visit.