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VCs are also unwilling to participate in technological development that does not lead to a successful IPO, merger or acquisition. It is from these ‘exit’ opportunities that they derive their profits. While a high degree of speculation is behind all VC investment decisions, they are unlikely to invest at all without a strong push from government in the form of a targeted technological development. Indeed, in the absence of an appropriate investment model, VC will struggle to provide the ‘patient capital’ required for the full development of radical innovations. In the innovation game, it is crucial that finance be ‘patient’, and be able to accept the fact that innovation is highly uncertain and takes a long time (Mazzucato 2010).

— The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths by Mariana Mazzucato (Page 148)

While market fundamentalists heaped criticism on the US government for funding the solar startup Solyndra, which eventually failed, they never mention the fact that the Tesla S, now a major success, received roughly the same amount of public support.

— The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths by Mariana Mazzucato (Page 23)

The rotten tree-trunk, until the very moment when the storm-blast breaks it in two, has all the appearance of might that it ever had.

— Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Page 28)

Impatient capital can destroy firms promising to deliver government-financed technology to the masses, but critics often focus on the government as the source of failure rather than examining the behaviour of the smart, profit-hungry business community in producing that failure by jumping ship, restricting their total commitments or demanding financial returns over all other considerations. If VCs aren’t interested in capital-intensive industries, or in building factories, what exactly are they offering in terms of economic development? Their role should be seen for what it is: limited. More importantly, the difficulties faced by the growing clean technology industry should highlight the need for better policy support—not less, given that existing financing models favour investors and not the public interest.

— The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths by Mariana Mazzucato (Page 141)