Am I the only one to notice that both AirBnB and DropBox actually have a viable business model and a real way to make money?
I think this would be a good metric. I mean think about it, if you're a startup and your only strategy is to burn money making an awesome product that's free, how on earth are you going to return 1000x on investment?
Facebook (AFAIK) is not quite profitable yet, but it does have a business model: selling ads. The same business model that Google used, and the same business model that the TV industry has been using (very successfully) for decades.
If you build a company with no business model other than hoping for a nice exit (usually as a talent acquisition) there's no chance that you can give your investors 1000x returns. This should be obvious.
I think this would be a good metric. I mean think about it, if you're a startup and your only strategy is to burn money making an awesome product that's free, how on earth are you going to return 1000x on investment?