> But investors ultimately care about ROI, and if you didn't invest in Google before the dot com bust then there's a very good chance your entire fund failed.
Google is up 4000% since its 2004 IPO and 1000% from local bottom during the housing bubble crash. Didn't even need to be a VC to get access to VC level gains buying GOOG.
I believe it is Steve jurveston who made the claim that on average, post ipo gains are roughly equal to pre ipo. I Don’t know how one calculates that but it’s an interesting thought.
> I Don’t know how one calculates that but it’s an interesting thought.
You could get a good estimate of this just checking Crunchbase. Assuming the company is doing well, none of the weird stuff like ratcheting kicks in. So just look at how much money went in and what valuation, apply dilutions for later rounds, and calculate what percentage you own by the time you get to an IPO.
This method still isn't perfect (employee option pools being adjusted will not show up, as well as other possibilities), but it'll definitely give you a rough estimate.
Google is up 4000% since its 2004 IPO and 1000% from local bottom during the housing bubble crash. Didn't even need to be a VC to get access to VC level gains buying GOOG.