Common wisdom regularly references Pareto - even while not knowing who the hell Pareto is. A humorist might even say that 80% of people who quote the 80/20 rule have never heard of Pareto.
Turns out it might even be worse.
Sturgeon has 90% of everything is crap .. and Andreesen agrees (Apple News Link to WSJ)
Seemingly even about his own fund.
”But doesn’t Sturgeon’s law also apply to investing in startups? A typical venture fund has a home run, a few companies with middling returns and lots of smoking holes in the ground. “We have a limited partner that has comprehensive data,” Mr. Andreessen explains. “For top-end venture funds, the good news is that it’s not 90% failure rate, it’s 50%. This is for top-decile venture.” So maybe Sturgeon’s law doesn’t apply. But wait. The 90% of funds below the top decline do worse. Sturgeon’s law rules. Mr. Andreessen pauses, raises an eyebrow, and nods in agreement.”