New paper: 88% of VC-backed founders get zero exit value, SF homeowners prove it
chrisalbon · x · 2026-10-23
- A new paper cited in this thread finds that 88% of VC-backed founders receive zero exit value.
- Chris Albon uses it to puncture a Bay Area myth: when he moved to SF he assumed every homeowner was an exited founder, but most are grinding senior ICs with titles like "Senior Director of SRE Analytics Cloud Service Engineering Security" at big tech, funding homes via total comp.
- The punchline: Silicon Valley wealth is mostly salaried work, not startup exits.
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