> is it not the generally held belief that VC stands for Vulture Capital?

For what it's worth, I've been reading HN for over a decade, and am a co-founder of a now almost decade old startup and have never seen this phrase

But maybe I'm just one of today's lucky 10,000

https://xkcd.com/1053/

I usually see Vulture Capitalism used more in reference to PE, where mature but distressed firms are purchased, with a focus on "cutting costs," and then chopped up and resold after being ravaged. Venture capital, on the other hand, is almost the opposite, as it cares little about costs in the pursuit of growth by any means possible.