Is it worth investing in YC companies at $25 post money?

YC valuations, Disney troubles & original thinker.

August 21, 2023

1/ Investing in YC doesn't make sense for Angel Investors

Average YC company in latest batch is pricing at $20M - $25M post money. This used to be $8M, 3 years back. If you are a pre-seed fund and your company went from a $8M pre-seed to $25M seed it would on paper 3x your money. Now only YC gets to have that bump. YC's MFN clause allows founders to raise both pre-seed and seed at one go. Smart founders are diluting as little as possible and raising as much as possible.Zag when other Zig. Just funding non-YC companies that do the same thing might just work. Good luck pre-seed investors!

2/ Bob Iger’s Disney is not doing well

Bob Iger’s return to Disney is not going well.

  • Stock is at 5 year lows

  • Cord cutting reached a pivotal point, making ESPN (Disney’s cash cow) business uncertain in the world of streaming

  • Fox acquisition Bob made before leaving is looking overvalued and unnecessary

  • No clear sight of profitability for the streaming business.

  • Marvel is not the cash cow it used to be

It's rumored that Iger is looking for a minority investors to buy ESPN stake and they recently did a deal with Pen gaming to get into gambling more directly.

It will be a few interesting years for the Mickey Mouse creator, watch out.

(Remember, times of uncertainty is also a time for opportunity.)

3/ Original thinker to follow: Josh Wolfe

I love collecting interesting people and their thoughts, I have a high bar on who gets on this list. One such person who is on my list of people to follow is Josh Wolfe. Josh runs Lux Capital which invests in early stage companies but unlike a lot of VCs who tend to get distracted Josh’s investments have been consistently outstanding with some iconic & interesting companies ever created.

To get an idea on why I think he is an original thinker check out his recent conversation on Odd Lots.

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