Hacker News Reader

If we're talking only about start-ups that have gotten big during this boom, then you're very wrong.

Uber, Xiaomi, Airbnb, Palantir, Snapchat, Didi Kuaidi, Flipkart, WhatsApp, Pinterest, and Dropbox are among the biggest winners so far. There's nothing Wall St or financial engineering about any of those. They're all legitimate businesses and or services that consumers blatantly want.

View on HN

Uber and Airbnb are very much about financial engineering. Most of their edge comes from tax avoidance and regulatory avoidance.

Uber and Airbnb are about consumer demand first and foremost.

Look at the investors in today's later rounds and the structures of the late-stage investments.

This has nothing to do with consumer demand. There was consumer demand for subprime mortgages too. What we're talking about is where the late-stage money is coming from and how the valuations are being manufactured.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com