The year of the degenerate

Life moves fast. I can’t believe it’s already 2025 now. I remember sitting in a management team offsite about 3 years ago outside of Amsterdam with the team. It was Q1 2022 and we were planning for the potentially bumpy road ahead.

Like everyone else, we didn’t realize just how bumpy it would be. The first interest rate hike was on March 2022 and like that, the startup and VC market started to grind to a halt. The last 3 years in VC and startup land have been tough. Valuations dropped significantly and the IPO market has been largely closed.

It feels like everyone is chomping at the bit. We have Bitcoin trading at near all time highs and lots of people seem to be having fun gambling with Memecoins. The degenerates are out in full force in crypto world. That has yet to translate to the startup/VC world and retail stock trading.

I expect that to change in 2025. With the IPO window seemingly heading for an opening shortly, more money will start flowing to the pre-IPO world. People are sitting on their hands ready to deploy capital.

The retail stock trading world seems also ready to participate. While the public markets have largely been held up by the largest companies, I expect more money to flow to growth and smaller cap companies this year.

It’s going to be a year of the degenerate. Everyone can be a trader and people are looking for a good excuse to gamble.