The Information’s 411 - Bedlam

It was a tough week for the public’s view of private tech companies. A spate of stories came out about mutual funds marking down the value of their holdings in big private tech firms like Snapchat and Zenefits. It was the topic of Jessica’s column this week and as she explained on the podcast, there’s a much more nuanced explanation beyond a lack of confidence in these business’ financials.

Also, Reed and Stephen stopped by to talk about the less than sunny opinions VCs have been expressing about the funding landscape. Many have been telling their portfolio companies the time to finish up your rounds is now (if hasn’t already passed). Will this new chastened approach to valuations actually lead to better run companies? The three have varying opinions.