[jacoblyles]

I recently took a trip to Asia where capital is hard to come by and startup valuations are much lower. It seems that if VCs are having trouble finding return, they might be well served by investing in global expertise.

Are the consumer markets so much better in America that it's worth paying 4x valuation and competing with lots of other VCs for deals? The answer may be "yes", but it doesn't seem obvious to me.

[stock_toaster]

  > Are the consumer markets so much better in America that
  > it's worth paying 4x valuation and competing with lots of
  > other VCs for deals? The answer may be "yes", but it 
  > doesn't seem obvious to me

Don't forget that there are known quantities of legal/tax vehicles for VC investment in certain countries. If those things are not present, I imagine it would increase the risk for the VC, and impact valuation and capital availability.

[barry-cotter]

Don't forget political risk. Rundown of Asian countries with political risk comparable to the US; Japan, Lorraine, Taiwan, Singapore. Countries with more political risk but not much; India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand. The second group have much worse legal/regulatory systems for doing business. I wouldn't plan on getting incredibly rich in any other Asian country unless I had a friend/patron to protect me from expropriation/gangsters. And you better be able to provide your friend with some quid quo pro orbe related tl them either by blood or by kid.

I may be overly cynical here but that's the perspective from China.

[seanmcdirmid]

The consumer markets and VC climates in other markets can be much worse. Take china for example...the VCs are only interested in funding shanzhai rip-off copies of ideas of ideas already proven in western markers.