The most successful global tech bets are efficient and practical startups

Companies that aren't capital intensive (most software companies) don't need VC funding. I'm the cofounder of Eureka Surveys (eurekasurveys.com). We're based out of Utah, bootstrapped, and have been profitable since our inception. Retaining 100% control of the company has been invaluable to our success - not needing to become a unicorn in X years is a competitive advantage.

The article is an ad for the author's VC firm.

Not very useful article.<p>It&#x27;s short (10 paragraphs) and doesn&#x27;t provide much analysis beyond about 4 statistics and 2-3 anecdotes.<p>I wish it had more data and visualizations of data.

Given that the goal of venture capital is to make blockbuster amounts of money, it seems problematic to have this discussion without numbers on what the return on investment is for these companies.

The challenge is growth. Employees of so called &quot;practical&quot; startups, will compare compensation&#x2F;wlb options of working at the startup vs fast growing unicorn. Without growth, it is hard to keep great talent (at least that has been my experience).<p>Also, big tech&#x2F;unicorn can just spin up a new product line to compete in the same market as the startup. In some situations, they might sell for loss to gain market share (e.g. microsoft teams vs slack).

Hmm, not sure what the narrative is here. You scout for startups that have managed to succeed on their own and then convince them to accept investments? OK, but… you aren’t really part of their success then, right? What did your investment enable the startups to do that they couldn’t otherwise?

Probably good to have both: SV and a few other mega hype environments and rest of the world for everything else.

I think those SV unicorns are flashy <i>because</i> they&#x27;re practical, and efficiency comes with money, generally.

Did Theranos (and Elizabeth Holmes) looked like efficient and practical startup?<p>You bet!!!

&gt; The most successful global tech bets are efficient and practical startups<p>No? I mean, it depends on your notion of success, maybe?<p>The article does nothing to prove the headline and talks only about an obscure Romanian company.<p>In Spain where I live - traditionally a venture capital backwater - &quot;successful&quot; startups in the last couple of years have been backed by eye-watering amounts of capital compared to the old standards.<p>Zero-interest rates and the resulting phenomenon of &quot;money not knowing where it can drop dead&quot; is catching up outside the US as opportunities become saturated there and investors are lured to emerging venture markets.