VENTURE'S PAPER WEALTH IS AT A RECORD, ITS BANK ACCOUNTS ARE DRY

Summary from the TLDR Founders newsletter

Demo days are packed and $500M funds keep getting announced, but the cash actually flowing back to investors has slowed to a trickle, because the IPO and acquisition exits have been welded shut for years. There are now more than 1,500 unicorns worth around $6 trillion with nowhere to go, and at the current pace, one estimate says it would take 49 years to clear the backlog. Look at the secondary market, where stakes change hands at 40 to 60% below their official marks, the real write-down happening where the quarterly letters won't show it.