VCs themselves aren&#x27;t the problem. Big bets are fine. The problem is acquihiring. It&#x27;s:<p>- good for founders - they get a big fat paycheck and a chance for a job in a big company<p>- good for VCs - <i>a</i> payoff, even if small, is better than no payoff at all, so they want their 9 not-so-good startups to be bought<p>- good for the buying company - they can literally just kill the competition by throwing money at them, + they get some proven and experienced employees, which may be worth it given the unreliability of the standard hiring process<p>Care to guess who this deal is <i>not</i> good for?<p>Startups are (and are being heavily marketed as) a get-rich-quick scheme. Most of the people involved are self-selected to follow this process. And all this talk about providing value to the users? That&#x27;s the part of the scheme where <i>you</i> get used.