Basically, we now have a "winner take all" environment in which rich startups get richer.

If you have not raised much money, it's still really really hard to raise money.

If you've already raised money, there's huge piles of capital available to pile on.

The Quora story is particularly telling: They raised $80 million and don't even know what to do with it.

So they'll just squirrel it in the bank. It was cheap for them to raise.

88 of the 100 largest venture rounds in history were raised in the last 5 years.

All of them raised more than $50 million at a time for their companies.

"Eat when the food is passed." ~Nirav Tolia of Nextdoor

Airbnb raised a $500 million round. Think about that.

That's more cash than most public companies have access to.

Coatue Management invested in Snapchat and Hotel Tonight.

Why do I have my doubts that either of those businesses will be around in 10 years?

Much of a company's valuation gains are now happening BEFORE a company goes public.

So for example Lyft and Dropbox each raised $250 million privately rather than having to IPO to do so.

Those who have access to private transactions can make a lot more than people in the public markets.