I don't think they can, which is why I think companies like Uber are massively overvalued and these stupid food delivery startups are all doomed. But hey, maybe my lack of vision is why I'm a working schmoe and VCs are millionaires.
vcs are millionaires because they invest other people's money and only need a little bit of success. why aren't we all trying to be vcs? lots of failures are just fine.
But can they really do that? Another VC-subsidized startup can then come in and apply the same strategy.