VCs aren't playing with their own money. They're playing with funds from many investors. The exits (and writedowns, etc) are controlled upstream of the VC. Righ

VCs aren't playing with their own money. They're playing with funds from many investors. The exits (and writedowns, etc) are controlled upstream of the VC. Right now VC funds are a hedge and the investors don't need a payoff. At some point those investors need action and will require their VC folks to remove them from those investments (see dotcom bust). This isn't unusual and has nothing to do with what Zach mentions in his article.