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Looking at some prominent examples in the last 1-2 years (Uber, WeWork, Lyft) and the recent batch of S-1 filings, I indeed see a lot of companies still operati

Looking at some prominent examples in the last 1-2 years (Uber, WeWork, Lyft) and the recent batch of S-1 filings, I indeed see a lot of companies still operating at a loss. The analogy to CDOs and finding a bigger sucker starts ringing true. So far, the bigger suckers were Softbank and public markets. It would be interesting to see what happens going forward.

achillesheels 6y ago
To that point on public markets: who on Earth is buying the equities of a Zynga or a SurveyMonkey? (no offense to any current or former employees) I get that speculators exist, but I see more and more the public listing of IT startups as “siphoning” passive index funds as part of a necessary diversified portfolio strategy - this is how VCs are exiting. I haven’t done the research, but this is merely the extension of principally why VC exists: the statistical inference of putting X% (typically less than 3) into high risk investments from 10 and 11 figure funds.
- terminalcommand 6y ago
  I don't know about Surveymonkey, but Zynga makes profit from games. Games are addictive, people pay.
- plorkyeran 6y ago
  Zynga made a profit in 2019. They appear to be a sustainable business which can keep operating at roughly break-even levels while hoping for another big breakout hit that makes a lot of money. Not a great investment, but certainly not a money pit.
jariel 6y ago
The notion of grabbing market share at a loss in order to capture future profits is actually sound. What matters obviously are the underlying fundamentals behind the strategy, which depend on a lot of things, can change, and are therefore amenable to hustling. Each case is different.
lazylizard 6y ago
Can i say unless subsidised i believe this has no chance against a farm* in dalat despite shipping costs? https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/11/infarm-series-b/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/11/infarm-series-b/ But nobody will give you us$200m to start farming in dalat. Smart, vertical, aeroponic, hydroponic or otherwise. *make that a plain default old school fully manual dumb and horizontal kind of farm haha

achillesheels 6y ago

To that point on public markets: who on Earth is buying the equities of a Zynga or a SurveyMonkey? (no offense to any current or former employees) I get that speculators exist, but I see more and more the public listing of IT startups as “siphoning” passive index funds as part of a necessary diversified portfolio strategy - this is how VCs are exiting. I haven’t done the research, but this is merely the extension of principally why VC exists: the statistical inference of putting X% (typically less than 3) into high risk investments from 10 and 11 figure funds.

terminalcommand 6y ago
I don't know about Surveymonkey, but Zynga makes profit from games. Games are addictive, people pay.
plorkyeran 6y ago
Zynga made a profit in 2019. They appear to be a sustainable business which can keep operating at roughly break-even levels while hoping for another big breakout hit that makes a lot of money. Not a great investment, but certainly not a money pit.

jariel 6y ago

The notion of grabbing market share at a loss in order to capture future profits is actually sound. What matters obviously are the underlying fundamentals behind the strategy, which depend on a lot of things, can change, and are therefore amenable to hustling. Each case is different.

lazylizard 6y ago

Can i say unless subsidised i believe this has no chance against a farm* in dalat despite shipping costs? https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/11/infarm-series-b/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/11/infarm-series-b/ But nobody will give you us$200m to start farming in dalat. Smart, vertical, aeroponic, hydroponic or otherwise. *make that a plain default old school fully manual dumb and horizontal kind of farm haha