Best of Venture Capital — January 2026

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   Article

   Hacker News·17w

   Raising money fucked me up

   A founder shares their psychological struggle after raising pre-seed funding from respected former bosses and angels. Despite having supportive, pressure-free investors, they found themselves paralyzed by self-imposed expectations and fear of disappointing people who believed in them. The mental burden led to counterproductive decision-making, focusing on vanity metrics and growth speed rather than strategic fundamentals. After reflection, they realized the investors backed them as people, not just an idea, and that following their own process matters more than matching other startups' timelines.

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2. 2
   Article

   Where's Your Ed At·17w

   Premium: This Is Worse Than The Dot Com Bubble

   The current AI investment bubble is worse than the dot-com era, with venture capital pouring $168 billion into AI in 2025 alone—nearly half of all VC funding. Unlike the dot-com bubble where companies at least had viable business models, AI startups have negative margins that worsen with growth, unprofitable unit economics, and no path to profitability. CES 2026 showcased this dysfunction: companies demoing vaporware robots and repackaging basic chatbot features as revolutionary "AI agents." The venture capital industry has devolved into late-stage momentum investing rather than early-stage risk-taking, rewarding grifting over fundamentals. When this bubble bursts, the consequences will be catastrophic because the investments are larger, the contagion wider, and unlike dark fiber from the dot-com era, GPUs and AI infrastructure have fundamentally broken economics with no salvageable residual value.

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3. 3
   Article

   TechCrunch·17w

   Why Silicon Valley is really talking about fleeing California (it’s not the 5%)

   California's proposed billionaire wealth tax would calculate liability based on voting shares rather than actual equity ownership, creating potentially massive tax bills for founders with dual-class stock structures. Larry Page, who owns 3% of Google but controls 30% voting power, would owe taxes on the 30%. While the proposal includes deferral mechanisms and alternative valuation options, critics argue these provide little relief given the complexity of private company valuations and potential penalties. The ballot initiative faces fierce bipartisan opposition from Silicon Valley, with prominent figures forming resistance groups and some relocating to Miami, while Governor Newsom pledges to defeat it.

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