DEV Community

Cover image for The Ugly Truth About VC-Funded Startups: Evidence Capitalism Doesn’t Work
Itamar Tati
Itamar Tati

Posted on

The Ugly Truth About VC-Funded Startups: Evidence Capitalism Doesn’t Work

I was just 5 years old when I came to the UK, carrying with me the weight of a new life, new challenges, and dreams bigger than anyone could have imagined. But little did I know, I’d grow up to witness the utter hypocrisy of capitalism—where the hardworking, self-made people are discarded while those who do nothing but play the system are rewarded beyond belief.

I think about this all the time—especially when I remember a woman I met. She had a dream, a business she believed in with all her heart. She worked hard, borrowed money, and invested everything she had into opening her store. But in the end, it didn’t work. Why? Because she opened in the wrong location. And just like that, the dream was over, very few people came to the store and with all that money gone she learnt the lesson that location is important.

I felt her pain. I could understand her struggle because I lived it. I know what it’s like to pour everything into something, to give it your all, and to watch it crumble. And what makes it even worse is knowing that women like her—people who truly believe in themselves and work with everything they have—never get the same opportunities as these VC-backed clowns. They get no chance to scale their ideas, to get funding, to chase their dreams. Meanwhile, people with zero talent and zero vision are handed millions simply because they know how to kiss up to investors and play the game.

There are millions of people like her—people who work hard, who put everything on the line, who believe in their ideas—and yet they will never see the same chance that these bullshit VC-backed companies get. And it’s not fair. It’s not right. It’s capitalism at its worst. It’s a system that rewards incompetence and takes everything from the real dreamers.

Capitalism is Broken: How the System Rewards Mediocrity

The truth is, it’s not just about one woman’s failed dream. It’s about the entire system. It’s about a system that rewards the worst people. The ones who wine and dine investors, who know how to sell a shiny idea, who don’t have to actually create anything of value. These people get millions, sometimes billions, to throw away on hollow, half-baked ideas. They’re allowed to fail over and over again, all while the people who actually work hard get tossed aside.

I’ve worked for three VC-funded companies. I deeply regret it. But I would do it again and continue to do it. Why? Because that’s the only way I could feed my family. It felt good, sure. As someone who loves writing software, someone who spent years getting rejected for job, just the ability to finally feed my family through something I loved doing felt like the world was amazing. But it was all shit. Why? Because nothing I built for these idiots actually mattered.

Imagine growing up playing masterpieces like Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, and Tekken. Experiencing the early days of YouTube and the iPhone, dreaming of building things that millions of people would use, things that would change the world. But instead, I ended up building things no one needs. Or, worse, building things that only rich people need. I spent years building products that served no purpose, solving no real problem. It’s a painful realisation, one that’s hard to swallow.

I wanted to build things that mattered. Things that could change lives. But instead, I helped create software for companies that burned through millions of dollars while pretending to care about innovation. All the while, the people I actually admired—those creating something meaningful, those dreaming of a better future—were left behind. And I couldn’t help but feel like a cog in a broken machine.

Venture Capital: The Farce of Innovation

Let’s break down the reality: these companies, backed by billions of dollars in funding, fail in spectacular fashion. Why? Because they don’t deserve to succeed. They didn’t build something real, something people actually needed. They built products for the sake of having products, without ever asking if they were solving a real problem.

And the worst part? They still get to keep the funding. They still get to take the resources from the people who actually deserve it—the ones who work tirelessly, who truly innovate, who build things that matter. These companies fail with their pockets full, while people who actually try to make a difference are left struggling, fighting for scraps.

Look at Uber. They burned cash for years, keeping their prices low, driving the traditional taxi industry to the brink. Then, once they had the monopoly, they raised their prices. That’s not innovation. That’s manipulation. It’s capitalism at its finest, taking from the people who built the industry and giving it to the ones who could exploit it. The same service, now at monopoly prices. The system doesn’t reward those who build—it rewards those who can outlast the competition by burning other companies down. That’s what VC funding gives you: time to burn through money until you take over, not build something meaningful.

VC Startups: Monumental Failures That Prove Capitalism is a Lie

These companies fail, but not because they didn’t have the resources. They fail because they’re not real. They don’t actually create anything of value. They burn through millions while the rest of us watch in disbelief.

Here’s the cold hard truth: these companies were handed millions of dollars and still couldn’t make it work. Meanwhile, the people who actually work, the ones who know what it’s like to build something from scratch, they never get a chance. They don’t get billions to throw around—they get ignored. And these VC-funded failures? They get everything.


VC-Funded Failures: A System Built on Lies

Startup Name Status Founded Year of Failure (if applicable) Time to Failure Time to Profitability Funding Raised
WeWork Failed 2010 2019 9 years Never $22.5 billion
Theranos Failed 2003 2018 15 years Never $1.4 billion
Juicero Failed 2013 2017 4 years Never $120 million
FTX Failed 2019 2022 3 years Never $1.9 billion
Quibi Failed 2018 2020 2 years Never $1.75 billion
Uber Succeeded 2009 - - 2021 (12 years) $25.2 billion
Airbnb Succeeded 2008 - - 2020 (12 years) $6.4 billion
Snapchat Succeeded 2011 - - 2022 (11 years) $4.9 billion
Stripe Still Growing 2010 - - TBD (Not Yet Profitable) $8.7 billion
SpaceX Succeeded 2002 - - 2022 (20 years) $10.8 billion
Clubhouse Failed 2020 2023 3 years Never $110 million
Peloton Mixed Success 2012 - - 2020 (8 years) $4.4 billion
OpenAI Still Growing 2015 - - TBD (Not Yet Profitable) $11 billion
Better.com Failed 2014 2023 9 years Never $905 million
Zume Failed 2015 2020 5 years Never $375 million
Tanium Succeeded 2007 - - 2023 (16 years) $1.2 billion
Jawbone Failed 1999 2017 18 years Never $900 million

Key Observations:

  • Shortest Lifespan:

    Quibi (2 years): Failed because it was a hollow, half-baked idea with no market fit.

  • Longest Lifespan Before Failure:

    Jawbone (18 years): Somehow managed to stay afloat while consistently failing to deliver anything of real value.

  • Average Failure Time:

    Most of these companies failed within 5–10 years, burning through millions of dollars without delivering anything worthwhile.


The Bitter Reality

This is what happens when you have a system that doesn’t reward the hard workers, the real innovators, the people who truly deserve success. Instead, it rewards the ones who know how to hustle their way to the top, who understand the game but never understand the work.

But I want to hear from you. Have you ever felt this frustration? Have you seen the system fail in ways that make you question everything? Let’s talk about it in the comments—your thoughts matter.

Top comments (0)