Welcome to this pro rata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech, business, and politics.

Presented by Bridge Bank. Be bold. Venture wisely. I'm Dan Pramack. On today's show, Google's latest DC headache and a year after Khashoggi.

But first, unicorns of the apocalypse.

So several years ago, venture capitalist Bill Gurley warned of a unicorn bloodbath,

referring to how startups valued at a billion dollars or more would soon be brought to heal.

It didn't really happen.

But maybe now it's starting to, including to some of Gurley's own companies.

So last month we saw We Work, one of Gurley's own companies. So last month we saw

we work, one of Gurley's companies, pull its planned IPO and kick out its CEO, all after

public market investors said thanks, but no thanks to an IPO that came with too high a price

tag and too little corporate governance. Then both Smile Direct Club and Peloton had successful

IPOs, pricing at the high end of their ranges,

but got their teeth kicked in by aftermarket traders, causing those stock prices to plummet.

All of this comes as Uber and Lyft continue to trade well below their IPO prices and even

below their last private market valuations.

So what's happening here?

For starters, it is not the end of high growth startups or of IPOs.

Other unprofitable tech companies like Datadog not only went public in September, but thrived.

And there are six companies on the IPO docket for this week, two of which expect valuations of $1 billion or more.

Instead, what we really seem to be seeing is trade war-scarred investors seeking comfort

in what they know, like Datadog's SaaS model. Peloton, for example, is really, really confusing.

It is a fitness hardware company that's also a media company and an apparel retailer that does

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