Venture capital does not make money primarily by waiting for companies to succeed but by hyping ideas, bringing in new investors, and cashing out as they bring in subsequent rounds—a mechanism more akin to a Ponzi dynamic or selling hope rather than building cash-flowing businesses.

causalpending

Speaker

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Evidence Quote

the way uh uh you need to look at venture capital M is that it's largely a compensation scheme largely comp like hedge funds compensation scheme okay compensation to the 2 and 20 no no the the mechanism so they don't make their money Venture Capital they don't make money by waiting for the company to really become successful they make their money by hyping up an idea okay getting new investors and they cashing in

Source

Nassim Taleb — Meditations on ExtremistanJoseph Noel Walker
Created: 8/11/2026, 7:44:21 AM

My Notes

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