[7Figures2Commas]

"Market cap" is a poorly-chosen descriptor because the vast majority (all?) of the companies in YC's portfolio are private.

The use of the term "market cap" is especially ironic given Sam's recent post on "financial misstatements"[1]. If founders are expected to use financial terms accurately and appropriately, shouldn't investors be expected to do the same?

[1] http://blog.samaltman.com/financial-misstatements

[harmegido]

It looks like it says "valuation" now. However, he's not trying to pitch you on investing in anything, so he can use whatever language he wants. The point of the blog post that I took was that it is illegal to mislead potential investors about your company.

[7Figures2Commas]

So in your mind the only reason one should use accurate language would be to avoid the risk of civil or criminal litigation? Fascinating.

[vasilipupkin]

why is market cap not accurate language? Even private companies have market caps. These market caps are set in the private markets. Market cap = # of shares outstanding * price of each share. Applies to both private and public companies

[7Figures2Commas]

Please talk to somebody who works in finance. You will virtually never hear the term "market cap" used to describe the value of private companies. If you use this term in this context, it will be assumed that you don't know what you're talking about.

There's a reason Sam updated the language in his post...

[vasilipupkin]

I work in finance :) true, the term is not often used for private companies. But that doesn't make it any less real.