I think you forgot another important metric:<p>* Are the startups that are hiring taking up enough of the talent compared to large established companies with billions in the bank such that if there were a bubble, and it were to pop, it would actually make an impact on the hiring environment.<p>I&#x27;d love to see some hard data on the % of people employed by the &quot;startup ecosystem&quot; vs. large established giants like Google, FB, Apple, Adobe, MS, Amazon, etc.  These companies have MASSIVE hiring needs and will likely continue to for some time.  Should interest rates cause lots of startups to die, I have a hard time believing it would result in a similar situation to the last dotcom bust.  Salaries might be depressed for a while, but these giants would still be fighting each other to swoop up the talent.<p>I&#x27;d seriously love to see some hard data on how much of an economic impact it would have in the Bay Area housing market and the public markets in general if all of the funded startups were to go <i>poof</i> overnight. My current bet is &quot;not much in the scope of things.&quot;