Science & Tech Quote by Adam Osborne

Osborne’s line lands because it’s both a business diagnosis and a small act of cruelty. “Venture capitalists” are supposed to be the grown-ups in the room: data-driven, contrarian, paid to see around corners. He flips that self-myth into an image of herd animals sprinting toward a cliff, then sharpens it with “bandwagon,” a word that doesn’t just imply trend-chasing but public, performative trend-chasing. The insult isn’t that VCs are wrong about software; it’s that they’re right for the wrong reasons, and that their confidence is basically contagious panic.

The subtext is about power and narrative. When capital moves as a crowd, it doesn’t merely fund innovation; it manufactures “inevitability.” Software becomes the safe story to tell partners, journalists, and boards, so money floods in not because the underlying bets are sound but because social proof lowers reputational risk. If everyone’s wrong together, no one gets singled out. Osborne is calling out that incentive structure: VCs aren’t just investing, they’re insuring their status by aligning with consensus.

Context matters. Osborne built and watched the early personal computer industry up close, including the way hype can outrun engineering and how “the next big thing” talk can turn brittle companies into cautionary tales. Coming from someone who saw boom logic from inside, the metaphor reads less like armchair cynicism and more like a warning label: when capital confuses momentum with judgment, the market’s creativity gets real, but so does the wreckage.