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Why Unicorns Are Struggling

Harvard Business Review

When financial services company Square priced its IPO at $9 a share last November, well under the $15+ price that private investors paid the year before, it was a cold shower of reality for the 6-year-old company. Until the IPO, Square had been one of more than 130 unicorns: privately owned tech companies valued at $1 billion or more.

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Venture Capitalists Get Paid Well to Lose Money

Harvard Business Review

2013 had all the signs of being a comeback year for venture capital. Booming public equities and a recovered IPO market generated record portfolio company exits and distributions from VC funds. LPs would pay VCs well, through carry, when they do what they say they will: generate great returns in excess of the public markets.

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Myths of the Gig Economy, Corrected

Harvard Business Review

Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, the ride-sharing giant, proudly declared on September 10 that “very few brands become verbs” The same week Upwork, a platform for hiring freelancers, filed for an IPO, as did Fiverr , which boasts that it offers a “freelance services marketplace for the lean entrepreneur.”

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What Initial Coin Offerings Are, and Why VC Firms Care

Harvard Business Review

Then, via price dynamics determined by market supply and demand, the value is settled on by the network of participants, rather than by a central authority or government. As of March 2017, the market capitalization of the ether token was more than $4 billion.). Insight Center. Business in the Era of Blockchain.