The writer is the founder of Portico AdvisersVenture capital blossomed from an artisanal strategy into a behemoth over the past decade, raising $163bn last year in the US alone. But the run on Silicon Valley Bank is raising questions about the industry and its prominent voices.

While levitating on the vapour of tantalising valuation mark-ups, many of these leaders mistook the advantages of low interest rates and globalisation for their skill, and anointed themselves prophets of innovation.

In truth, the wall of cash in recent years led many VC funds to rely less on discrimination and judgment and more on playing a numbers game, investing in an array of start-ups in the hope that one delivered a vertiginous return. This has always been part of the VC playbook but it became more gamified, descending into an undisciplined play on the momentum of industry and market trends. The standards of due diligence deteriorated.