TC's job isn't to predict a startup's success anymore than the NYTimes' job is to predict who our next President will be. It's a news outlet whose aim is to publish facts and report the pertinent tech startup news of the day.
Now if you want to argue about whether what TC writes about is pertinent or not, that's a different discussion entirely.
The N.Y.Times should be more about helping its readers decide who should be the next President than telling them who will be the next President. But they'd be falling down on the job if they weren't making it clear that, say, Newt Gingrich's chances of being elected President this November are very low.
Similarly, part of TC's reporting should be whether a particular company's business model is working, whether they're running out of money, whether they're gaining customers, that sort of thing. But the link seems to equate any mention of a company by TC as a prediction that it will succeed. Not the same thing.
> Now if you want to argue about whether what TC writes about is pertinent or not, that's a different discussion entirely.
This I agree with entirely.
Your comment insinuating that they would care about their "success rate" seems to indicate that you think otherwise?