[michaelochurch]

I've actually used "istan" for things I like also, e.g. I might use "high-IQ-istan" for the collection of intelligent people. It's just that a negative one (VC-istan) stuck. I make up lots of words and only a tiny percentage catch on.

There's nothing pejorative about "-istan". It's (probably) a cognate of "stone" and means "homeland" in Farsi. Nothing pejorative.

I agree that it's probably distracting or confusing and I know some people don't like it, but I can't come up with anything better. "VC-sphere" sounds more ethereal (so it might include the blogs and stray comments), "VC-land" sounds more concrete (like it might pertain to the land, e.g. Silicon Valley, in particular).

Your point about the 3 startups makes a lot of sense. I've heard the same about records. The first makes the name (because new artists can't get decent terms), the second makes the money, and the third is for creative vision.

The issue with companies is that so many more people are involved. I'd want to be in someone's 2nd if optimizing for money and 3rd if optimizing for interesting work.