I P O

Initial Public Offering.  A way for new businesses to raise capital.  Legit by all the laws of the land.  Done to death.

Yet we get a bunch of surprises each year when these so called entrepreneurs attempt to convince the public to invest in their dreams.

Recent history would suggest the irony and the bizarre nature of how the broader market evaluates the worth of any business.

• WeWork - a business founded on the idea of leasing or buying large square footage in busy metros and then renting it out for hefty premiums to other businesses with 'just in time' or 'temporary work space' needs.   This concept garnered ridiculous amount of excitement from the bankers who touted it as yet another unicorn (more on this later).  Turns out the idea of WeWork being workable was flawed.  At least in terms of its valuation.  Revenue models were broken, but marketed as gravy by Ivy league types working for large brands on wall street.  Someone figured out that the emperor had no clothes.

• Peloton - the static bicycle company.  Sold with a lot of hoo ha dynamism by charismatic faces of the CEO and CMO. Cult like following with word of mouth publicity.  Does not translate into a valuation of an established car company.  But the market kept pitching the idea to unsuspecting investors.  Who bought and failed.  The flub factor is high for all these businesses who seemed to create magic out of thin air and sell something intangible and experiential.  The latter is all the buzz among the millenial and younger crowd who does not want to do the math.  Experiences are fine but don't be arrogant and sell happiness.  That is what Peloton was promising.  Really?  Buddha 2.0?  Even the Gautama failed to find it and he had to check out and go in the woods for a decade.  Oh the humanity.

• Ride sharing - Another brilliant idea in concept.  And practice. Frictionless cab service.  But not worth $75 billion.  That is what Uber was originally priced by wall street and then the smoke and mirrors became only smoke.  Choking kind. With no cars (on its books) but valued same as Ford Motor.  Finally priced at much less when they went public, the stock dropped like a rock in the year that followed.  Its rival did not fare better.  'Lyft' seemed like a one word oxymoron.

All start-ups that attain sky high value topping a billion before anyone has seen a single share of it are termed unicorns.  Another corny term coined by the cult of Silicon Valley in its echo chamber, many of these examples show that the start up start looking more like a fall down.