FWIW, I'm only interested in building businesses that could potentially be very large. VCs do indeed place massive emphasis on vanity because they live and die

FWIW, I'm only interested in building businesses that could potentially be very large. VCs do indeed place massive emphasis on vanity because they live and die by reputation and perception. Twitter sentiment matters a lot when you're a VC. Additionally, markets care a lot about perception of success rather than 'real' success (though you could argue they're one in the same). There are plenty of examples of companies who raise massive amounts of investor capital strictly based on hype, without necessarily having the economics to support it. The early investors can win bigly merely by cashing out before the laggards jump on the bandwagon.