The logic of venture capital was always premised on scarcity. Capital was scarce. Technical talent was scarce. The infrastructure to build, test, and distribute a technology product was scarce. VCs existed to bridge those gaps—to provide the resources a promising team needed before the market could prove them right. In exchange, they took equity, board seats, and influence over strategy. It was a reasonable bargain, forged in the conditions of the 1970s and refined through the personal computer, internet, a ...