No, that&#x27;s the model for firms with expertise in valuing companies. It&#x27;s very trendy to suggest that big venture capital firms are throwing darts, but in fact they are competing for the best deals (which is another reason crowdfunding investors are at a disadvantage) and for the most part they are not spectacularly successful.<p>Venture capital firms aren&#x27;t competing for &quot;unicorns&quot; simply out of vanity. They need to bet on firms with outsized returns because even in a cohort of pedigreed startups with plausible business plans and some degree of traction, most are going to fail.<p>Many of those failures are capable of generating reasonable incomes for employees and founders for years, but those incomes are not proxies for investment returns. That&#x27;s <i>another</i> reason crowdfunding is dangerous: we have a skewed idea of &quot;success&quot;, because to us, starting a company that lets us control our own destiny, build our resume, and earn a competitive salary for 10 years is a huge success. To a crowdfunding investor, the returns to investors are the only thing that matters.