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At Least $1.48 Billion in VC Funding Has Gone Up in Smoke This Year as the List of Dead Startups Grows (businessinsider.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: We're halfway through 2017 and already a group of startups that together raised $1.48 billion have shut down. Some of these startups are: Beepi, the website that brought together car buyers and used-car sellers, shuttered in February. Quixey, a mobile search engine that was able to crawl apps, laid off most of its staff at the end of February. Yik Yak -- the anonymous social media app that was at the center of several college harassment scandals -- announced its closure on April 28, after struggling to keep users on its platform. Maple, a New York City-based food delivery service, closed down on May 8. Sprig, a San Francisco-centric service that delivered high-quality meals on demand, made its last delivery on May 26. Hello was the company behind the Sense sleep tracking sensor, which was designed to sit in users' rooms, rather than on their wrists. It closed in June after failing to find a buyer. Jawbone was a pioneer in wearable devices, with a focus on fitness trackers and portable speakers, but it struggled to pay its vendors.
1.5 billion is a drop in the bucket in America's economy much less the global one. This is /., I'd like to think we understand numbers well enough to know that.
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In order to have a business which ONE item of the following do you need?
I learned the correct answer over 30 years ago and to this day I see endless startups and investors still get it wrong. People who should know better. So it doesn't surprise me much that $1.5B goes up in smoke.
Normal gambling is a zero-sum game.
There is a set pool of money between the players and the house, and that money is redistributed within that group---generally in the house's favor.
Investment is a non-zero sum game, but it is very risky. Between this and the real-world consequences, it is quite different in spite of a superficial similarity.
That said, only risk-takers would find either gambling or VC investment appealing.
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According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
Just call it the Rich paying their fair share.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Money is like energy. Unless there is some huge devaluation event or you actually burn physical notes this money has not gone up in smoke.
What has really happened is that this $1.48 billion has instead ended up in the hands of people other than the VCs or the companies they were funding.
In the words some other group of people is now collectively $1.48 billion richer.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
If I remember right, these are the key steps:
1. Start Up
2. Cash In
3. Sell Out
4. Bro Down