Dan Primack of Fortune concludes in this morning’s e-mail that just because there are a few large IPOs, all must be fine in Venture land. An argument I have heard many times before and a dangerous conclusion that has had its precedent:

I think you assessment that just because there are IPOs all is fine in Venture land is overly simplistic. It may demonstrate simply that the public is still easily swayed to buy into the magic of technology, even though many do not produce sustainable social economic value. And with the stock market violating free-market principles, I would not surmise that merely because you can raise another round (this time from the public) the returns will await its investors in the long run. We have seen many IPO's in the late 90s, and where are they now?

Many IPOs have been pushed through the funnel in the past that have produced miserable returns for the public. And each time we push a company through that funnel without the tangible social economic value to produce returns for the public, we erode the trust of the public to invest in the sector again. That is the reasons why IPO “windows” for technology do not open all the way anymore and permeate a distrust that is counter to our ability to produce social economic value in the future.