Chapter | 2THE DECLINE OF ESTABLISHED FINANCING

Even in decline, a virtuous man increases the beauty of his behavior. A burning stick, though turned to the ground, has its flame drawn upwards.

—Saskya Pandita

According to a 2003 report, Morgan Stanley studied the prospects of start-ups over the prior 22-year span, including every single technology IPO in North America. The results: only 1 in 20 start-ups made it to an IPO, and only 1 in 20 of those companies actually created shareholder value thereafter.1 Anecdotally, a similar trend can be seen in start-up “exits” (that is, start-ups being sold) via mergers and acquisitions. From those results come some very important observations. Even dating back to a period starting circa 1980, the lack of ...

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