Keynesian beauty contest [1]. They don't pick the best assets. They pick the assets that they think most people are going to think are the best assets.
A pre-seed investor invests in assets they think seed investors are going to like, seed investors invest in assets they think series-A investors are going to like, series-A investors invest in assets they think series-B investors are going to like, ..., series-whatever investors invest in assets they think IPO-subscribers are going to like, IPO-subscribers subscribe to assets they think the secondary market is going to like.
At some point in the process someone goes: ...hang on a minute. But by that time, the asset is owned by you and me, through the indirection of pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and the like.