I understand why humans get fixated on the nominal threshold of a large, round number like $1B.

But the thing about private market valuations is that you can't know if investors are right ex ante, so it's helpful to discount.

A $1B valuation sort of just means you now effectively "owe it" to shareholders, and you're now 100% incentivized to deliver that to them in some form, instead of being fully incentivized to deliver on your true vision to your customer.

When done well, private diligence can help uncover blind spots and fund company growth in key areas at the service of that true vision.

When done poorly because of FOMO over AI, robotics, or the latest hype, it can turn into preemptive enshittification.