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olhausler

4 karma · joined July 9, 2018

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olhausler··on Ask HN: How will inflation change fundraising?
Well, a raise from $10k to $120k being inflation-based sounds a bit odd as an argument, and I remember this was in pre-Covid times where inflation was close to zero.
olhausler··on Ask HN: How will inflation change fundraising?
I remember the $10k investment, and I always found it too low. I doubt they raised to $120k because of inflation (though I agree some part of it may be because of that).
olhausler··on Ask HN: How will inflation change fundraising?
Yes, all those funds will finally end up in VC coffers, and exactly this I find worrying, when looking at it from the startup's side. Let me make an example with numbers: In a normal world, during a funding round a startup receives for example $10MM for 20% of their stock. They typically calculate with 2 years to spend the funds plus 18 months runway. Not calculating the extra money the startup must raise to be on the safe side, if the $10MM is worth a lot less at the end of a cycle because of inflation, part of the stock they sold went into "funding inflation". As the startup can only do so many rounds until founders are fully diluted, at some point, inflation will dilute founders so much that they may walk away, for the bad of both sides. IMHO, like so many things, the current investment model only works well when inflation is low.
olhausler··on Ask HN: How will inflation change fundraising?
Not yet, but you can anticipate that it will. Think of the trillions of dollars being distributed to people by governments as Covid help. If you distribute funds derived from QE to people during a lockdown, everybody will start buying like crazy once the lockdown is gone, which will certainly cause significant inflation. Besides, inflation is in the US government's best interest, as it will lower external debt and therefore decrease US dependency.