&gt; The &quot;model&quot; isn&#x27;t the creation of venture capitalists; it&#x27;s just mathematical reality.<p>Only if you invest in startups they way you play craps.  The statistical distribution of outcomes is not predictive of the chances of a particular startup succeeding or failing.  Some founding teams are virtually guaranteed to fail; some have a better than even chance to succeed.  If you are willing to give up on the unicorns you can also eliminate most of the duds.  Valley VCs are not willing to do that.