I'm not valuing my company solely by revenue, but it's easier to compare the values of startups by their revenues as a good chunk of startups are focused on growth and not profit - and thus aren't yet profitable. Will that start to change with the current macro environment? Probably. Was only trying to point out how out of wack valuations have gotten.
Investors in startups value a company based on the likelihood that they can pawn off a money losing company either to the public markets or an acquirer.
That doesn’t help now that the public market doesn’t have an appetite for companies that aren’t profitable.
So if retail investors aren’t interested in non profitable companies, there is no profit it in it for investment bankers to flip the stock at IPO to take advantage of a “pop” meaning that VCs are less interested in throwing good money after bad.
How have the former “unicorns” focused on “growth” fared in the last few years?
For instance DoorDash couldn’t make a profit during a worldwide pandemic when everyone was ordering takeout.