It's not our first fundraise, and not our first startup. But something _is_ distinctly different this time. People are no longer willing to wait for years and are betting on nebulous claims in hopes of a huge payout.
And I feel that this goes far beyond the usual VC risk-taking.
Interesting, I'm curious about the changes - I know AI has drawn most of the pump & dump sharks, just like crypto before it, but there were always a set of responsible holdouts that resisted fad-tech for real value opportunities.
Are you seeing a difference there?
I think society at large is increasingly hitting a gambling mindset fueled by algorithms murdering everyone's attention spans and dopamine receptors. Life is also expensive and it's NOT getting cheaper. Combine thag with endless stories of the rich and powerful getting away with heinous acts and most people have stopped caring. They stop caring about the future, they stop caring about any kind of long term thinking, because why would they?