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No, they got an enormous amount of VC money for years. They reached a $1 billion valuation in just two years after founding (2012), faster than Uber/Dropbox/Lyf

No, they got an enormous amount of VC money for years. They reached a $1 billion valuation in just two years after founding (2012), faster than Uber/Dropbox/Lyft etc did.

mempko 5y ago
Ok, but ... https://seekingalpha.com/news/3609955-moderna-failed-to-disclose-government-grants-funded-development-of-patented-vaccines-advocacy https://seekingalpha.com/news/3609955-moderna-failed-to-disc... And Derrick Rossi's research was publicly funded which led to creation of Moderna... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Rossi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Rossi > Rossi based his developments on the results of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman on mRNA. He succeeded in finding investors for his plans to transfer these findings into new medications and vaccinations by founding Moderna This is a tale as old as time. Government funds labs which invent and discover. VCs then fund companies to exploit and make money off publicly discovered work.
- andrewmutz 5y ago
  In the real world, both government grants and VC funding create great things. If your political views make you want to diminish the importance of either, then perhaps it's time to update those views.
  - mempko 5y ago
    I'm trying to create a more balanced view. Andreessen made a claim that is completely false. > Moderna, a product of the American venture capital system -- Andreessen Where is he talking about the importance of government grants?
- drzaiusapelord 5y ago
  Yep this. The actual nose to the grindstone basic research work is often publicly funded but the VC fundraising bragging is often things like jets and swanky offices. The un-sexy work of doing basic research is not something capitalism handles well at all and we expect the government to subsidize it so the VCs can walk in, claim the work of their own, claim it was done via capitalism and the VC process, and then sell themselves as our saviors by creating media outlets that serve them. This is very dystopian and anti-government.
- jaypeg25 5y ago
  You're taking a pretty pessimistic view of the funding and R&D process. A good idea with initial funding by the government is useless if the VC funding doesn't bring the idea to the finish line. The government can't afford to (and shouldn't) fund every good idea to their finish line.
  - mempko 5y ago
    It's not pessimistic, just a fact of the R&D process. Public takes the risk, reward is privatized. Otherwise the VC model wouldn't work since most research doesn't fall within the horizon of a VC fund's lifetime.
- mavhc 5y ago
  That's how it's set up to work, government does the early work because it's not profitable for a company, we all pay into that work so we have the new technology sooner. See: the internet, railways, computers, everything.

No, they got an enormous amount of VC money for years. They reached a $1 billion valuation in just two years after founding (2012), faster than Uber/Dropbox/Lyft etc did.

mempko 5y ago

Ok, but ... https://seekingalpha.com/news/3609955-moderna-failed-to-disclose-government-grants-funded-development-of-patented-vaccines-advocacy https://seekingalpha.com/news/3609955-moderna-failed-to-disc... And Derrick Rossi's research was publicly funded which led to creation of Moderna... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Rossi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Rossi > Rossi based his developments on the results of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman on mRNA. He succeeded in finding investors for his plans to transfer these findings into new medications and vaccinations by founding Moderna This is a tale as old as time. Government funds labs which invent and discover. VCs then fund companies to exploit and make money off publicly discovered work.

andrewmutz 5y ago
In the real world, both government grants and VC funding create great things. If your political views make you want to diminish the importance of either, then perhaps it's time to update those views.
- mempko 5y ago
  I'm trying to create a more balanced view. Andreessen made a claim that is completely false. > Moderna, a product of the American venture capital system -- Andreessen Where is he talking about the importance of government grants?
drzaiusapelord 5y ago
Yep this. The actual nose to the grindstone basic research work is often publicly funded but the VC fundraising bragging is often things like jets and swanky offices. The un-sexy work of doing basic research is not something capitalism handles well at all and we expect the government to subsidize it so the VCs can walk in, claim the work of their own, claim it was done via capitalism and the VC process, and then sell themselves as our saviors by creating media outlets that serve them. This is very dystopian and anti-government.
jaypeg25 5y ago
You're taking a pretty pessimistic view of the funding and R&D process. A good idea with initial funding by the government is useless if the VC funding doesn't bring the idea to the finish line. The government can't afford to (and shouldn't) fund every good idea to their finish line.
- mempko 5y ago
  It's not pessimistic, just a fact of the R&D process. Public takes the risk, reward is privatized. Otherwise the VC model wouldn't work since most research doesn't fall within the horizon of a VC fund's lifetime.
mavhc 5y ago
That's how it's set up to work, government does the early work because it's not profitable for a company, we all pay into that work so we have the new technology sooner. See: the internet, railways, computers, everything.