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It certainly seems a lot easier to get a huge valuation from Wall Street than from Sand Hill Road. A lot of these "mega-valuations" (zillow, ning, slide, etc) have gotten funding from PE, hedge, and investment houses instead of classic VC.

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That's a very keen observation. I am not sure about the 'lot easier' part though.

One thing that's common among all these "mega-valuations" startups are star-founders who have had billion dollar exits in the past.

This is their fourth round of funding - it's quite common to go to a larger institution for later rounds of funding for a mezzanine round before an IPO.

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