| Your 100x and 1000x example would represent the best of the best of course. Then you use that to contrast how a public company may only yield 2X at an extreme over a year. First, VC investors are rarely looking at a one year horizon on a new investment, so I have no idea why you chose a year as a reference point. Why would you compare an elite outcome of 1000X in VC to a typical public company? Second, just like the best VC investments, some of the best public companies have returned 100X and 1000X. Dell, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Walmart, Berkshire Hathaway, AOL, and numerous others. Berkshire is closing in on a 1,000X return. Walmart has produced a 1000X return. Cisco pulled off a nearly 100X return in the first seven years as a public company (it took Facebook eight years to IPO, and Google six years). Apple recently did it as well, with a 100X return since 2003. Las Vegas Sands managed an 85X return over five years recently. The only valid hit against public companies like these, is the time frame it took. |