If you focus on some of the top-line, headline-grabbing numbers, this would seem to be a boom time for venture capital.

The industry collectively invested more money in startups last year than in any other year except 2021. And venture investors have been putting gobsmacking sums into particular companies, including what ended up being a record $110 billion earlier this year for San Francisco’s OpenAI.

But if you dig a little below the surface, the venture industry’s foundational business model appears to be under stress, if not breaking down. READ MORE