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The Gamesters of Capitalism
Not unlike the Enterprise crew in The Gamesters of Triskelion, startup employees are at the whim of soulless gamblers who get a high out of mistreating the help.
When I first learned that investors in tech startups assumed that 9 investments out of 10 would lose money or at best break even, I thought it was a strange and not a very practical way to make a living.
I was wrong.
At the time, I was listening to a famous NYC-based angel investor who then went on to explain that the one successful startup makes it all worthwhile. Of course, it would have to return tens of millions just to the investors. The better (or luckier) investors would then use some of this outsized profit for the next investments round, and as pocket change for their lifestyles.
It dawned on me later that their business model was that of a poker professional who plays ‘by the numbers’. They are very much like gamblers who don’t have any feelings about the deck of cards as such, but see everything in terms of stats and averages. Investors also view the eager founders and companies as the hand they’ve been dealt and make similar calculations.
And they will continue to play until they get the equivalent of a flush or three aces to pay for all the bad bets. Sure, they look for certain qualities in the founders — integrity, work…
