It's the cognitive dissonance of your Point 1 that makes this so fascinating. I think we're all at peace with the idea that a $100m venture fund will periodically write a $375,000 check to a couple crazy dreamers -- just to see if they can make their long-shot idea come good.
And when funding is tiny, it fits into our sense of what risk-taking should be. These are garage/spare bedroom startups with no salaries, a count-the-pennies reliance on AWS to get it going, and an MVP that's "brought to market" via some brave/crazy little scheme that's very dependent on other people's goodwill and tolerance.
If it works, hurray, and if not, everyone regroups fast and moves on.
Multiple all the numbers by 1000x, and the distortions get very strange. Yes, the fund is still making a "tiny bet." But the founders now can goof around with more money than most serious presidential candidates enjoy during primary season. And that feels like a pretty unfortunate misallocation of society's resources.
And when funding is tiny, it fits into our sense of what risk-taking should be. These are garage/spare bedroom startups with no salaries, a count-the-pennies reliance on AWS to get it going, and an MVP that's "brought to market" via some brave/crazy little scheme that's very dependent on other people's goodwill and tolerance.
If it works, hurray, and if not, everyone regroups fast and moves on.
Multiple all the numbers by 1000x, and the distortions get very strange. Yes, the fund is still making a "tiny bet." But the founders now can goof around with more money than most serious presidential candidates enjoy during primary season. And that feels like a pretty unfortunate misallocation of society's resources.