Venture capitalists seek a particular kind of truth: From a universe of new companies, which is the set most likely to succeed, thereby producing value?

Since Social Starts sees hundreds of startups each month, we're in a position to spot trends and make predictions. So what's around the corner in startups?

Winter is coming. It will be terrible, and it will also be wonderful and necessary. The cooling of the unicorns is the natural course of tech revolution.

Today’s much improved tools allow us to build what marketers always needed, but couldn’t achieve: Markets based on direct access to aspirational behaviors.

In a unique way, moment-of-inception investors dwell in the future. Here are some of the misty futures we see when we look forward.

"My experience of parenting six kids has had a deep impact on me as an entrepreneur and investor. Lessons from fatherhood, applied to funding startups."

"I've come to reflect that my rich experience of parenting has had a deep, and positive, impact on me as an entrepreneur and investor."

Valuations have been rising for all kinds of venture rounds for years. The rise has been most severe in B rounds and after, as today's unicorn frenzy begins to take hold.

Given that we see hundreds of start-ups each month, the Social Starts team has a unique perspective on trends among founders of new companies in social/mobile. Here are some of the trends among early stage entrepreneurs we have seen so far this year:

We are delighted to have exactly zero companies on the CB Insights 135 startups that failed list. And, we feel gratified to see many companies on this list we looked at and passed on.

Every six months Social Starts examines the social/mobile landscape to see what has changed, so we can adjust our investment approach to the current and emerging reality.

As CB Insights notes, with many VCs moving back to bigger early-stage rounds, later in the lives of start-ups, the first under-$1M round is becoming a unique investment opportunity.