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Lots of things that you or I think are unique and special can be modeled as commodities. VCs model startups as commodities when they're preparing forecasts. R
by danshapiro 16y ago
Lots of things that you or I think are unique and special can be modeled as commodities. VCs model startups as commodities when they're preparing forecasts. Recruiters model high powered executives as commodities when they're preparing an interview pipeline. Like all abstractions, it's sometimes useful, and sometimes misleading. Certainly it's nothing worth getting excited about as a passing comment by the author.
- nostrademons 16y agoI'm not quite sure that VCs model startups as commodities, considering that you get these huge pile-ons where everyone wants to invest in Twitter or Zynga but nobody wants to invest in the random startup your roommate founded. If startups actually behaved as commodities, brand names wouldn't matter so much. Ditto high-powered executives - if they were actually commodities, executive pay wouldn't skyrocket through the roof.
- danshapiro 16y agoYou're missing the point. There are times when it's useful to model things as commodities, and times when it's not. Here, you see Union Square Ventures modeling startups as commodities: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/08/venture-fund--1.html http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/08/venture-fund--1.html but they would be the first to tell you that their investments are not treated as commodities when they're deciding on whether to provide follow-on investment. Even traditional commodities - say, apples - are treated as commodities when they're being bought and sold in bushels. But when you go to pack your lunch, suddenly, you're inspecting for ripeness, bruises, etc.