What Aswath Damodaran thinks about startups

@aswath-damodaran · 15 positions · On ppll ↗

Professor of finance at NYU’s Stern School of Business, known for his work on valuation. Publishes his valuations, spreadsheets and data openly at Musings on Markets, and revises them in public when the numbers move against him.

Aswath Damodaran did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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3 dated positions, 2025 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Aswath Damodaran has said — not written or endorsed by them.

3 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

1. 2 Sept 2026

   Our readingApplying scale-first, profit-later to every business is a cookbook that turns small failures into big ones.

   investing

   Their wordsAny investor or founder who blindly follows the pathway of scaling first and profiting later for every business is using a cookbook approach to business building, and runs the risk of making small failures into big ones.

   ↗The Scaling and Profitability Trade off: Venture Capital’s Weakest Link!aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com 1st of 5 in this piece

3. 2 Sept 2026

   Our readingCompanies now go public later, bigger and unprofitable: fewer than a quarter of the last decade’s IPOs were making money.

   Their wordsWhile it was routine for companies going public in the 1980s to be profitable (>80% were), less that a quarter of the companies that have gone public in the last decade have been profitable.

   ↗The Scaling and Profitability Trade off: Venture Capital’s Weakest Link!aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com 5th of 5 in this piece

4. 9 months earlier

5. 3 Dec 2025

   Our readingInvestors in the largest tech companies have voluntarily surrendered their governance rights, leaving founders with unchecked power.

   investing

   Their wordsinvestors at many tech companies, including most on the large cap list, have given up their corporate governance rights, often voluntarily (through the acceptance of shares with different voting rights), to founders and top management in these companies

   ↗Trillion Dollar Market Caps: Fairy Tale Pricing or Business Marvels?aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com 2nd of 4 in this piece