This is actually true. Bad/mediocre VC's only make money on management fees and not on actual returns. So in order to maximize profit, they raise large funds (the bigger the better), and then pump valuations up.
They're only interested in 10x home runs so valuations are almost irrelevant. Since a finite number of partners can only sit on a finite number of boards, they can't have 50 or 100 investments at lower valuation / smaller sums.
High valuations also pump up expectations on the startup -- which is bad for the entrepreneur because if you fail to hit your goals, it means a down round and a ton more dilution.
"C'mon folks, we need major cash outlays. [...] Work with me here, we're talking BILLION with a B..."
I think this could also be called an instance of perverse incentive. VC's have perverse incentive to invest more money than given startups need. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive
They're only interested in 10x home runs so valuations are almost irrelevant. Since a finite number of partners can only sit on a finite number of boards, they can't have 50 or 100 investments at lower valuation / smaller sums.
High valuations also pump up expectations on the startup -- which is bad for the entrepreneur because if you fail to hit your goals, it means a down round and a ton more dilution.