This isn't a game of reputation, fundamentally. In current economic climate if a VC is only getting 4x return on their initial investment and not the usual 10x

This isn't a game of reputation, fundamentally. In current economic climate if a VC is only getting 4x return on their initial investment and not the usual 10x, they'll say "oh wait, we think this 4x is still over priced, market might slump further and we care for our reputation so much therefore, please pay us only 2x" or they'll say "selling at 4x would ruin our reputation therefore let us not sell at all"? This is the classic VC cycle, companies get sold to the next one for higher gains till the last buyer cannot find any further buyer that can pay even inflated prices neither the stock market responds that much so they end up squeezing every bit of juice of the company by raising prices, reducing free features and what not. Heroku is one example.I can count a dozen more.