"THOMPSON: What does the Facebook IPO mean for Silicon Valley?

BLANK: I think it's the beginning of the end of the valley as we know it."

Steve Blank VASTLY underestimates how hard it is to build a great Social Media company.

This is way too melodramatic an overreaction:

If I have a choice of investing in a blockbuster cancer drug that will pay me nothing for ten years, at best, whereas social media will go big in two years, what do you think I'm going to pick? If you're a VC firm, you're tossing out your life science division. All of that stuff is hard and the returns take forever. Look at social media. It's not hard, because of the two forces I just described, and the returns are quick.

VCs are not going to throw out their Life Science divisions.

And most Social Media efforts are going to fail.

Meanwhile, lots of great science and technology is happening in universities, corporations, and startups.

Facebook's IPO provides more liquidity in the market to invest in the best of all of these efforts.