• Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Somewhere in the past 25 years, we began to confuse two things that are not the same. • We started treating “innovation” as something that only happens in private markets, and “funding innovation” as a synonym for venture capital. • The creation myth is familiar: founders in a garage, a seed check and then (many years, and many rounds later) an IPO that serves as a liquidity event for insiders. • In this story, the public markets are where the startup goes to retire. • But this is historically illiterate.Amazonwent public in 1997, three years after founding, at a market cap of $438 million. • It had $15.7 million in revenue.

Article Summaries:

  • The article argues that the common view of innovation as a private‑market, venture‑capital‑driven activity is misleading. It cites Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia as examples where the bulk of product development occurred after going public, while many 1990s tech firms entered the market within 4-7 years. In contrast, today’s median VC‑backed company takes 14 years to IPO, often with inflated valuations and weak performance-e.g., WeWork’s failed listing and the negative returns of recent VC‑led IPOs. The piece concludes that while early‑stage VC remains vital, true innovation requires a public‑market handoff for accountability and sustainable growth.

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