They thought they would be able to IPO at $50 billion. Their problem was that the IPO process took long enough for people to realize how bonkers it was - it didn’t help that they were going to IPO after all the other loss making hype businesses are down from their IPO prices (so presumably people are viewing similar IPOs with suspicion).

What’s annoying to me is that these companies that are making huge losses were able to hoover up so much of the VC funding, while actual profitable businesses were not :-(

I recall reading an article a few years ago from a profitable startup talking about trying to get VC funding, and all their interactions were basically “you should stop charging so you can get market share”. Essentially demanding that they make their profitable company unprofitable.

I wish I could remember where it was.