In the zero interest rate era, did founders and investors err toward too much aggression or too little?
5 recorded positions from 5 people, first said Sep 18, 2023. They do not agree — the readings below are what each one actually argued.
Too much capital not too little caused zirp era distortions
Harry Stebbings · Jan 10, 2024
The venture industry, not founders, is responsible for the excesses of the last cycle — investors over-funded and force-fed companies capital
The 'let's get back to building the old way' narrative on podcasts dodges the fact that the industry did the over-funding
24:02 20VC: Did Figma Kill M&A Markets in 2024, The Three Biggest Mistakes Made in Growth Investing, The Three Requirements Companies Need to Go Public in 2024 with Ed Sim and Jamin Ball
David Frankel · Oct 14, 2024
The core sin of the ZIRP era was simply too much capital, stuffed down entrepreneurs' throats, which drove all the other distortions.
79:50 20VC: Investing Lessons from FC Seeding Uber, Airtable and Coupang | Why Pro Rata is the Original Sin in VC | Why Liquidity Has Died in 2024 | Why LPs are Pissed with VCs | The Hard Truth About Seed Fund Economics with David Frankel @ Founder Collective
Also on the record
Miles Grimshaw · Sep 18, 2023
The most instructive thing about the zero-interest-rate era is not the excesses themselves but how great leaders reacted and corrected afterwards
Everyone can list the 2020-2022 silliness; the transferable lesson lies in leadership behavior after the regime change
73:01 The transferable lesson is post zirp leadership correction not the excesses themselves
Adam Fisher · Jan 22, 2024
The biggest sin of the ZIRP era was not inflated valuations but the belief that you could be the third, fourth or fifth player in a market and still succeed
If you're not the pioneer you're riding someone else's wave — it helps you raise, recruit and even sell, but it isn't your wave, and it's the clearest path to failure
66:59 Zirp eras real mistake was believing non pioneer players could succeed not inflated valuations
Shardul Shah · Sep 16, 2024 · hedged
The sins of the zero interest rate era were that the best founders didn't grow aggressively enough and investors didn't maximize liquidity opportunities
47:14 Zero rate era erred toward too little aggression not too much
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