It's incredibly rare for startups to fly people around the world in business class. And I say this as someone who flies long-haul exclusively in Business and First—I still would never expect my employer to put me up in business. As a personal decision, it can make sense. I'll buy the fare outright when it's $3,000 or less for an international round-trip, and I make sure of credit card points and frequent flyer miles.

If I worked for a big public company, I'd expect them to put me up in business for anything longer than 6h. For a young small startup, I'd expect them to put me in a reasonably convenient economy ticket (e.g. not flying out of OAK instead of SFO, and not forcing me to take long connections, or really ultra-low-cost carriers like WOW Air).

I am trying to learn about the business habits in the Valley. I wish someone could inform me.

To answer your question, obviously I am not from the valley, i run my own business, it is quite profitable, i don't do retreats, and i fly quite a bit, always coach. So if i ever organised a retreat, i would expect everyone to fly coach. Hence my question.

considering coach tickets are more than half the price, I don't see why anyone would not buy them.