The “Unproductive Bubble”Unprofitable startups, small markets for new digital technologies, and little commercialization of new scienceMay 16, 20221May 16, 20221
Fake it till you make it’ is an old trick Silicon Valley startups use to get moneyThe great British economist John Maynard Keynes wrote that entrepreneurs are necessarily optimistic, with the fear of failure “put aside as…Mar 11, 2022Mar 11, 2022
The Age of Big Promises and Small Results For New TechnologiesWe live in an era of big promises but results that fall far short of expectations. Take the failed construction startup Katerra. Founded in…Feb 8, 2022Feb 8, 2022
Is Rationality Finally Emerging for Unicorn Share Prices?2021 was a great year globally for venture capital and startups. Initial public offerings (IPOs) raised a record $594 billion in 2021…Feb 5, 2022Feb 5, 2022
Most Unicorn Startups Will Not Overcome Their Cumulative LossesShare prices for video service startup Zoom, social media startups Snap and Pinterest, e-commerce startups Etsy, Purple, Wayfair, and…Jul 19, 20211Jul 19, 20211
How Fast Is Digital Transformation Proceeding?Digital transformation was supposed to give us higher productivity, a better quality of life, and perhaps higher unemployment. Yet…Jun 21, 2021Jun 21, 2021
Few AI Startups Release Revenue Numbers, Much Less Income Numbers: Will Any of Them Ever Make a…Only four Western and two Chinese AI companies report income, and all have big losses. CrowdStrike and c3.ai both did IPOs and had losses…Dec 22, 2020Dec 22, 2020
Small Impact of Lockdowns on Startup Unicorn Profits: Only 7 of 69 Are Profitable in 2020, Up From…Small Impact of Lockdowns on Startup Unicorn Profits:Dec 15, 2020Dec 15, 2020
Can Ride Sharing Survive Huge Losses and Lockdowns?The sharing economy was supposed to change the world. Driven by the diffusion of smart phones and new services, many expected that cars…Dec 7, 2020Dec 7, 2020
Published inThe StartupOnly 6 of 73 Unicorn Startups Are Profitable, and None Did Recent IPOsThe six profitable Unicorn startups (out of 73) did IPOs many years ago and no Unicorn startup among those announcing or doing an IPO…Nov 23, 2020Nov 23, 2020
Published inThe StartupUniversities Exacerbate Inequality Through Scientific Research and Promotion of Startups: Shouldn’tYesterday’s semiconductor research and startups created jobs and products for everyone while today’s biotech mostly creates science and…Nov 10, 2020Nov 10, 2020
Where are the New Technologies? The 2010s was a terrible decade for new technologiesWhich technologies were successfully commercialized in each decade, going back to the 1880s? Successful is an important yet vague word…Nov 2, 2020Nov 2, 2020
Published inThe StartupCreative Destruction or Just Destruction? An Analysis of Fortune 100 Companies in 1955 and 2020The small number of companies on the Fortune 500 or 100 for both 1955 and 2020 is not due to creative destruction, and it does not…Oct 26, 2020Oct 26, 2020
Chinese Ex-Unicorns are Also Providing Poor Returns for Share HoldersOnly 8 of 25 Chinese-Ex Unicorns have had higher share price increases than did the Nasdaq between their IPO and January 7, 2020. The…Oct 20, 2020Oct 20, 2020
Published inThe StartupMost Chinese Ex-Unicorns Are Unprofitable, But Fewer Than in AmericaEighteen of 32 Chinese-Ex Unicorns are unprofitable or delisted (See below table), and many privately held Unicorns are also likely…Oct 12, 2020Oct 12, 2020
Deep Tech Unicorn Startups Are Unprofitable, Why?Many have argued that deep tech startup Unicorns will do better than the low-tech money-losing startups that I have covered in previous…Sep 28, 2020Sep 28, 2020
“Winner Take All” Will Not Save the UnicornsMany VCs, startups, and consultants believe that today’s unprofitable Unicorns[1] will eventually make enormous profits because of the…Sep 14, 2020Sep 14, 2020
Will Consumer Internet Unicorns Ever Become Profitable?This article is the tenth in my series on startups and technology; previous articles have shown that most Unicorns, startups that were…Sep 8, 2020Sep 8, 2020