Demo Days really do have this feel.<p>I was pitching a VC partner before the presentations, and he noticed three people walking towards us: "check that out!"<p>Me: "Oh, yeah, Ron Conway! He spoke at one of our dinners, and we've talked with him personally a couple times, he's a good guy."<p>"No. To his left."<p>Mr. Conway was flanked by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. And no, it's not movie magic, they really do look that good in person.
"<i>...and pay irrational amounts of money to experience. </i>"<p>"<i>Investors pay a shockingly high price to get into highly competitive funding rounds, but they're happy that they got in at all.</i>"<p>Surely investors are getting a good deal despite these statements? I mean they're going to pay more to invest in a company that's been through YC than if they invested in the exact same founders prior to them being in a YC class, but look at what they're getting in return:<p>- Vetting by pg and co.<p>- Plugged into an invaluable alumni network<p>- Automatic investment from Yuri Milner (in most cases) meaning the company has more runway with which to survive lean times<p>- Media coverage<p>- Massively reduced risk premium and due diligence due to the above factors<p>- Etc.<p>So surely the higher price is still a price worth paying?<p>Edit: spacing
This is completely unscientific, but once something gains this much hype I just get the gut feeling that the value has disappeared for investors. If the likes of Ashton Kutcher are there, the game's up, the secret's out - these assets are no longer undervalued. If I'm an investor, it's time to pack up and move on to find the next market inefficiency, cause I really doubt it's in YC funded startups anymore.
Might be unrelated but I've noticed an awful lot of YC "hype" (press, news, coverage) since the Sequoia investment.<p>I hope Sequoia is not being a negative influence to YC by dis-proportionally "banging the drums" and ultimately being a distraction to the goal of building and developing lasting and meaningful companies and businesses.