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" This bubble is very close to bursting. Too bad for those pension funds and university endowments. " Not even close. As someone who lived through the very en

" This bubble is very close to bursting. Too bad for those pension funds and university endowments. " Not even close. As someone who lived through the very end (and hence the worst of it) I think this does mark the return of the bubble. Bump is a nice idea but they've now raised $3 per active user and still have no real path to revenue. That's bubble mentality. BUT at least Bump is a good idea. Good ideas that VCs over estimate is the beginning of a bubble not the end of it. Its when ideas like ecommerce stores that just sell pet food or devices that allow web sites to smell start popping up. That's when its about to burst

chailatte 16y ago
Yes, during normal times. However, we're in a global economic recession, where most countries are bankrupt and overnight any country/US state can default on their debt, causing massive failures in many markets. Any other bubble bursting (education, real estate, stock market, government debt) can cause the other bubbles to burst right away.
- enjo 16y ago
  Most countries are very far from being bankrupt. We haven't been in a recession in a quite some time (more than a year ago). While there are lingering concerns over a couple of specific countries, economic news has been mostly pretty bright for quite some time. Jobs, particularly labor jobs, continue to be a really big issue. Lets not be hyperbolic, however. Also, lets keep this in perspective. The amount of money totally invested in startups is (in the scheme of things) pretty small. So yes those endowments and pension funds stand to lose, but not a lot (they tend to be well diversified). Not all bubbles are the catastrophic crash of the housing market or the general tech bubble that began last decade. Those both saw huge amounts of money invested by millions of individuals dry up overnight. This is very different.
- TomOfTTB 16y ago
  The first bubble came at the end of a recession too. Beyond that VCs are in the business because they have money where others don't and they want to get in on the ground floor of investment opportunities.

chailatte 16y ago

Yes, during normal times. However, we're in a global economic recession, where most countries are bankrupt and overnight any country/US state can default on their debt, causing massive failures in many markets. Any other bubble bursting (education, real estate, stock market, government debt) can cause the other bubbles to burst right away.

enjo 16y ago
Most countries are very far from being bankrupt. We haven't been in a recession in a quite some time (more than a year ago). While there are lingering concerns over a couple of specific countries, economic news has been mostly pretty bright for quite some time. Jobs, particularly labor jobs, continue to be a really big issue. Lets not be hyperbolic, however. Also, lets keep this in perspective. The amount of money totally invested in startups is (in the scheme of things) pretty small. So yes those endowments and pension funds stand to lose, but not a lot (they tend to be well diversified). Not all bubbles are the catastrophic crash of the housing market or the general tech bubble that began last decade. Those both saw huge amounts of money invested by millions of individuals dry up overnight. This is very different.
TomOfTTB 16y ago
The first bubble came at the end of a recession too. Beyond that VCs are in the business because they have money where others don't and they want to get in on the ground floor of investment opportunities.