I've been reading with increasing regularity about the impending tech bubble bursting and I feel that it's an inevitable course of events inherent in any free market economy as a self regulating adjustment when things get too far out of whack. Anyone who gets stung when the bubble does break (as they always do) must live in a cave as the sky is falling media barrage is pretty hard to miss. This current pending bubble has been predicted now for well over a year, compared to the dot.com bubble four ways from Sunday, hashed, rehashed and hash tagged to death yet I'm sure a bunch of investors will be left holding the bag when it does finally burst. They have their "greed blinders" on or must think the predictions don't apply to their pet unicorn. I am still amazed that millions and millions of dollars were invested in early rounds for Uber and Airbnb both of which rely on business models that are illegal in most jurisdictions. Being "disruptive" is all well and good as long as you stay within the confines of current legal statutes. The fact that both have seemed to put enough of those investment dollars to good use and are making progress at changing the laws of the land is irrelevant or at least for my money it is. That's the tail wagging the dog in my book.
The other thing that I've seen far too often are little start ups acting like big stable ventures. A group of a few coders who get a little seed money or win a pitch contest running out and renting class A office space having catered lunches brought in and on and on is just wasteful given that they don't have any clients coming to the office and keep the blinds pulled down and door locked in the class A space during business hours. Those guys probably would have been happier in a converted garage office and pizza delivery and cut their burn rate down by $7,500 a month. Good luck raising more investor money once the first round is eaten up and your still "pre-revenue".
I firmly believe we will see some of today's unicorns get devalued to more realistic valuations but they will continue to thrive. The impending May 16 launch of the Title III regulations opening up investment to non-accredited investors will add a significant amount of free market capital into the system and we will continue to see growth at record levels. It's an exciting time for investors with many new options available for the first time in generations and diversification within one's portfolio continues to be my recommendation at 25% High Risk, 50% Moderate Risk and 25% Low Risk. I like real estate, blockchain, cannabis cultivation and big data.
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Stephen G. Barr
Senior Advisor, Mentor, Author, Publisher, Angel Investor
United States,Los Angeles
Advisor to 62 startups over the past 5 years as listed on Angel List. Currently seeking advisory positions at startups. I can assist you with product development, fundraising, strategic alliances, setting up and administering an advisory board and more.
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