Mike Solana

It's crazy to see how VC twitter is all in a hysteria about how the tech press is so overly skeptical Just a few years ago the tech press was endlessly fawning, nearly completely devoid of skepticism in a way that further inflated valuations and cultlike reverence for founders

is there evidence that valuations were more inflated in that era than now? (I don’t disagree that the media coverage was different a decade ago).

so you would have a much better sense than me, but haven't series A/seed (or first money in) valuations gone up rather significantly? Certainly VCs always carp about this ... maybe YC would have the best data?

yes, that is my point. Critical press era = higher valuations than during flattering press era.

Didn’t those valuations go up a lot starting 2014-16? I think that was peak rah rah techpress Either way, do you not think the hagiographic press did anything for the funding environment? Certainly lots of investors read that stuff

Peak rah rah coverage was 2009-2014 not 2014-2016. But critical coverage hasn’t suppressed either public or private valuations.

well investors should be happier with the press then! ;) i will say that for ~4 years WeWork's valuation seemed unphased by stories laying out how it was a real estate company valued like a software company