Interesting post on the Lightspeed blog about the increasing length of time from initial funding to acquisition. (Founders be ready for the long haul).
Jeremy draws the conclusion that founders need to expect a longer trip from funding to acquisition which is no doubt true but the graph presents such a high-level summary that it is really easy to accidentally over-generalize the situation.
The chart suggests that for the last 5 years the "average" acquired company was started in 2000 (basically a 3/4 day for each day slip). Since there was a huge bubble of starts in 2000, it is possible that the class of 2000 is still dominating the acquisition charts and that companies started in different cycles (2004-2007) will behave differently. The chart also hides the bursty nature of the acquisition cycle.
I guess it's a good chart if you're in the investment business and trying to defend your falling IRR to your LPs ("hey look, it's not us - it's a macro effect").
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