What is this obsession on HN about "everything can explained with the end of ZIRP" (zero interest rate policy)? Really: Even with overnight rates at 5%, the returns are still awful compared to even moderatly successful VC firms. And, I do not write this as a fanboi/gurl for VCs. (Many have shitty, immoral business practices to enrich themselves at the expense of hard-working non-executive staff.) Also, "end of VC-money": No such thing. They are practically bursting at the seams with uninvested money gathered during ZIRP.
Are you suggesting that the macroeconomic environment in terms of funding and performance expectations of startups hasn't changed signficantly in the last few years?
VC-money and ZIRP is a convenient shorthand for what's changed, neither are terms I think particularly encapsulate what did change, but I think it's very hard to argue that it's still just as easy to get a bunch of funding without a business model. (aside from in AI perhaps?)
