A cheeky pattern I've seen a few times: - Raise money from venture/SV style investors at high pre-money valuations to start a "holding company", often with some thesis like "we're going to add technology to an old industry" (money often raised at 30x earnings or some insane pre-money valuation) - Buy standard/low quality businesses in private equity style deals at 4-7x earnings - Send investors venture-style mark to markets based on venture-backed comps, not PE comps - Venture investors are BLOWN AWAY by the profits and revenue growth (all just via acquisition, zero organic) - Look like a genius for a while—maybe blow up once investors do the math This provides poor, or at the very least below average long-term returns to investors, but it takes 7-10 years for that to play out. In the meantime, the founder now owns 50%+ equity in a highly profitable collection of business and is set for life. Is this bad? I don't know. I want to live in a world where people can do stuff like this and authentically take swings, but it often looks like a hustle.