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An adult can also go to a casino or buy lotto tickets, activities not only statistically guaranteed to be losers on average but designed intentionally to be so.

by api 10y ago

An adult can also go to a casino or buy lotto tickets, activities not only statistically guaranteed to be losers on average but designed intentionally to be so. At least startup crowdfunding might fund some cool stuff. BTW why can't VC funds be traded on the stock market? Seems like that might be a better way to allow public participation. You could buy some Sequoia, A16Z, etc. and let pros make actual picks.

deleted 10y ago
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BWStearns 10y ago
I don't think there's any actual prohibition on that. I suspect that the transparency requirements for public listing would be the barrier since venture funds trail hedge funds in secrecy by a sideways glance.
- sah2ed 10y ago
  > ... venture funds trail hedge funds in secrecy by a sideways glance. I literally 'LOLed' reading that. That's an especially apt characterization.
tptacek 10y ago
VC funds could be traded on the stock market. They aren't because (a) most VC funds don't reliably beat the stock market, and (b) the ones that do aren't looking for a huge influx of new investors; they're selective about their LPs.
GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
Personally I think casinos should be illegal and lotteries much rarer.
bjterry 10y ago
In a way, VCs cease to be interesting when they are publicly traded. When you invest directly into a fund, the partners are promising to take your original capital and invest it in companies to dramatically increase its value. When you invest in a publicly-traded company, you are purchasing someone else's claim on the original invested capital, with whatever increase or decrease in value it has had since investment. The only way to get in on the original value creation is to participate in the IPO of the VC fund, which would still only be available to large firms and the extremely wealthy, just as it is for normal IPOs. So VCs operating publicly traded funds would not at all democratize the wealth generation. Think of it this way. If you could get an allocation in the Medallion Fund, or, say, Sequoia's fund, you are very likely to make above market returns. But if they hold an open auction for entry into their funds, no one who participates gets above market returns on a risk-adjusted basis. "Access" is what is actually giving you the above market returns, not the activities of the fund itself.

by api 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

BWStearns 10y ago

I don't think there's any actual prohibition on that. I suspect that the transparency requirements for public listing would be the barrier since venture funds trail hedge funds in secrecy by a sideways glance.

sah2ed 10y ago
> ... venture funds trail hedge funds in secrecy by a sideways glance. I literally 'LOLed' reading that. That's an especially apt characterization.

tptacek 10y ago

VC funds could be traded on the stock market. They aren't because (a) most VC funds don't reliably beat the stock market, and (b) the ones that do aren't looking for a huge influx of new investors; they're selective about their LPs.

GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago

Personally I think casinos should be illegal and lotteries much rarer.

bjterry 10y ago

In a way, VCs cease to be interesting when they are publicly traded. When you invest directly into a fund, the partners are promising to take your original capital and invest it in companies to dramatically increase its value. When you invest in a publicly-traded company, you are purchasing someone else's claim on the original invested capital, with whatever increase or decrease in value it has had since investment. The only way to get in on the original value creation is to participate in the IPO of the VC fund, which would still only be available to large firms and the extremely wealthy, just as it is for normal IPOs. So VCs operating publicly traded funds would not at all democratize the wealth generation. Think of it this way. If you could get an allocation in the Medallion Fund, or, say, Sequoia's fund, you are very likely to make above market returns. But if they hold an open auction for entry into their funds, no one who participates gets above market returns on a risk-adjusted basis. "Access" is what is actually giving you the above market returns, not the activities of the fund itself.