Market & Business
Bubble
A market phase where asset valuations significantly exceed fundamental value, driven by speculation, excess capital, and narrative rather than earnings or cash flows.
Bubbles form when capital floods into an asset class faster than underlying value can justify — driven by low interest rates, FOMO, and compelling narratives about the future. They pop when either capital dries up, fundamentals fail to materialize, or sentiment shifts.
The venture capital industry has experienced multiple bubble cycles: the dot-com bubble (1998-2000), the mobile/social bubble (2014-2016 in some sectors), and the 2020-2021 zero-interest-rate bubble that drove median seed valuations from $8M to $20M+ in 18 months.
In Practice
During 2021's zero-interest-rate environment, pre-revenue companies were raising Series A rounds at $50-100M valuations based purely on team and narrative. Many of these companies never found product-market fit and were eventually shut down or acquired for cents on the dollar.
Why It Matters
For VCs, identifying whether you're operating in a bubble affects investment strategy — portfolio construction, reserve sizing, and valuation discipline. Firms that maintained valuation discipline in 2021 avoided the worst of the 2022-2023 correction. Those who chased marks often wrote down entire portfolio vintages.
VC Beast Take
Nobody ever thinks they're in a bubble while they're in it. Every bubble has a compelling narrative explaining why 'this time is different.' The best investors have scar tissue from previous cycles that keeps them anchored to fundamentals even when the market loses its mind.