The article really lost me with the line "Unsurprisingly, venture capital firms – an equal victim of this culture"

In what way is a VC firm a "victim" of investing millions in a startup to try to get in at the ground level of the next unicorn?

The whole thing is this weird self-fulfilling prophecy cycle. I don't blame either side of the equation, per se. But it sorta kills me how people think of this standardized rite of passage now for launching a startup, getting a ton of money before you've made any, and then exiting. I wouldn't take any of that for granted.

It's cheaper for them to buy "startups" while they're smaller and in a fledgling state. Once in a while you hear of the startup founders making off with millions, but that's like a 3% lottery.

In reality, doing the math, startups are major bargains since the teams are working for near zero and their work and health, etc... may not even come into play when a VC or another company purchases. Had the companies or VCs used their own professional teams, they would have had to have paid more to account for working conditions, health-care, salaries, equipment, insurances, etc...

edit: In a tldr; sense, the VCs and major companies can reap the benefits of the "startup" while having to pay nothing to little in the initial cost. This is why ZUckerberg and the rest of the SV hustlers tout "youth" over "experience" because the youth are far more likely to fall into their traps and scheming.

The penny drops..