VC as an asset class loses money.

Within that loss, some companies do better than others.

Whether that is skill, luck or finding some way to tilt the board in your favour (political influence for example) depends on who you ask.

I have read that the statistics the distribution of success in the VC field was compatible with a random distribution with a very small skill bias.

I do not know if that analysis was accurate and it will be 10 years out of date now.

But that there are winners and losers does not mean that it is not a game of chance.