I personally have seen this, as a manager at a major company involved in obtaining certain data services from VC-backed startups (by now, medium-sized several-y

I personally have seen this, as a manager at a major company involved in obtaining certain data services from VC-backed startups (by now, medium-sized several-year-old companies). I completely agree with the idea -- the VC-backed startup is completely incentivized to inflate deals to hit dumb revenue targets, regardless of how much it hurts (and they know it), really hurts them operationally to deliver. And when this happens at some point (usually quite soon), their priorities about the product take a back seat to simply pulling in as much revenue as possible. At least we get to rake them over the coals and extract some ridiculously good prices for the product we buy while we do it, but man it's painful for both us and them at the same time. All for some valuation. I see the CEO putting himself through a total hell to do this, and I ask "why are you doing this"? It's too late. They sold themselves to that world, and now have to live with the consequences. edit to note: in the OP article, it points to a further essay written by Phil Greenspun in 2001 on his experience with VCs. It's funny and really interesting on its own. One small thing I noticed at the bottom is that the first comment is written by Aaron Swartz.