Asset class comprising early-stage equity investments in private startups seeking high-growth returns.
1 take · first discussed May 9, 2025
Private company — no public price to score. We track what they said; valuation-mark tracking is on the roadmap.
The only host thesis provided comes from Chamath, who holds a high-conviction bearish view on venture capital as an asset class as of May 2025. He argues that the combination of a dormant IPO market and blocked M&A activity has suppressed returns to the point where VC can no longer justify the illiquidity premium investors must accept. In his view, the only rational framing for continuing to allocate to VC under these conditions is quasi-philanthropic rather than financial. No other hosts' views are provided, so agreement or disagreement across the group cannot be assessed.
Chamath argues that at current course — lack of IPOs, blocked M&A, and artificially suppressed returns — venture capital cannot justify its illiquidity premium and is effectively unjustifiable as an asset class unless treated quasi-philanthropically.
With the lack of IPOs and with the lack of M&A, you can't justify that asset class on its own, in my opinion, unless you think about it as something that you're doing almost philanthropically.”1:12:39