Companies IPO much later now because the laws changed. They used to be forced to IPO much earlier because employees shareholders pushed them over the threshold for # or private shareholders.

So you're absolutely correct about the comparison.

That said, I bet whatever happens over the next 20 years goes beyond what any of us can imagine. I wouldn't be surprised if the winners of this paradigm are worth hundreds of trillions. Sounds ridiculous until you look backwards and valuation a and consider this is an exponential curve and time is compressing.

And, more importantly, the dollar is inflating.

> I wouldn't be surprised if the winners of this paradigm are worth hundreds of trillions.

And the winners may be not be the obvious choice.

With enough inflation, you and I might be worth hundreds of trillions. See: Zimbabwe.

Well sure..., but what might be less obvious is that a can of beans, a tank of gas, a wig and a chair can all inflate at 2% a year while stocks and land inflate much faster.

The way we measure inflation is focused on consumption goods that everyone depends on. It doesn't take into account the stock market.

In other words we could stay around 3% in measured inflation but see ~30% annual equity inflation...

So my point is that the most valuable companies in 20 years could be worth hundreds of trillions while the cost of a can of beans is like $5, not $200.

Zimbabwe type inflation happens when the economy doesn't get more efficient at producing stuff as fast as the government prints money. If the economy increases efficiency very quickly and the government prints money to peg at 2% inflation, the products we consume only increase a little bit while scarce assets increase a lot.

This is why in the time I took a can of beans to increase in price 3x a house increased 20x.