The Way to Know You’re Looking at a Startup Fantasy That Will Implode
Before you’re hoodwinked by a doomed business—lessons learned from my job evaluating startups.
I used to be a startup-spotter. You could have mistaken me for the host of the television show “Who wants to be a millionaire?”
My job was to find startups to work with and then help them plugin via APIs into a global financial system. I’d attend pitch nights, assess pitch decks, wear startup t-shirts with funny slogans, and write startup hero stories for blogs.
Startups are something I have a soft spot for because I have had several failures of my own. And this year I stepped back into the brave world of entrepreneurship to start a real business again.
The fantasy land of overvalued startups has been a trend over the last year. First, there was the downfall of WeWork. Then, it was the overvaluation and hype of Lyft, Uber, and Snapchat, who all famously lose money. The global health crisis has only made the appetite to invest in startup fantasies weaker.
Smart Company says even “startups with strong growth prospects will still be able to secure funding, albeit at a reduced valuation.”
