Norwest Venture Partners — portfolio autopsies

CASB security pioneer raised $150M and was sold below its funding total as the market consolidated.

College textbook rental marketplace raised $17M and was acquired below cost as Amazon and publishers commoditized digital course materials

Satellite imaging pioneer acquired by Google for $500M, sold to Planet Labs for $25M, and retired — a 95% write-down.

Economic signal forecasting killed by the most economically unpredictable era in decades.

The online course marketplace that couldn't turn 60,000 courses into profits

DTC mattress unicorn IPO'd at $575M in 2020 after raising $339M—then was taken private in 2022 at $6.90/share, down 79% from its IPO price, after years of losses proved the model unworkable.

Crowdsourced invention platform raised $185M but couldn't manufacture profitably