A year ago, Fortune did a survey of VC (venture capital) firms to find out how many "decision makers" were female, and the number was tiny — a mere 4.2 percent. But one year later, things must be better, right? Nope. This year's study shows things are almost exactly the same.

Messing with a competitor's ability to get funding is not a good look for Uber, says the venture capitalist who invested in the e-hailing app Hailo. The venture capitalist behind Lyft totally agrees!

There's a cool new trend sweeping Sand Hill Road and it's called self-doubt. Just look at your Tweetdeck. Everybody who's anybody is suddenly spazzing out. According to the Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index, confidence levels have chilled for the first time since early 2012.

After checking up on their brood last month, some of the tech industry's most prominent investors scolded startups about burning through their venture capital allowance. But dad's new rule about spending wisely has not reached founders themselves, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Being an investor—particularly one in overvalued, bubbly tech startups—is perhaps America's easiest job. Don't believe me? Look at this guy:

In the past couple weeks both Forbes and Wired have published first-hand accounts of the perils of "fundraising while female." The anecdotes about harassment, discrimination, and the hassle of disproving an investor's assumptions about gender are familiar. But you won't find the name of single male venture capitalist who made these women feel compromised, harassed, belittled, or duped.

The great tragedy of the pre-Internet era was that My So-Called Life superfans had no way of keeping the teen drama on the air. But we now know where the laconic bad boy, an ambling Zen koan in corduroy, might have ended up: an "early investor" in a "hot" human resources automation startup. Swoon.

So much has changed since the Arab Spring. Wael Ghonim, the Google marketing executive credited with igniting a revolution in Egypt, just joined Google's venture capital firm as an entrepreneur-in-residence because "He's really trying to move his life forward."

In the first quarter of 2014, venture capital funding for U.S. startups hit its highest mark since 2001. Remember 2001? Well, nobody else does. VCs invested $9.9 billion in 880 deals, valuing 11 companies at $1 billion or more. They'll let any good-for-nothing into The Unicorn Club these days.

Silicon Valley is just like the Ivy League, argues venture capitalist Rachel Chalmers. In both places, lucky is a dirty word: "The game is rigged. The pathology of Silicon Valley is that the winners have so much ego invested in pretending that it isn't."

The revolving door from public service to finance usually only benefits the person who walked through it, so this is a welcome change. Former NAACP president Benjamin Jealous is joining Kapor Partners to find and fund startups led by minority entrepreneurs, creating "a freeway" between tech and "poor communities of color."

Did you know that venture capitalists were not born infant investors with silver term sheets in their mouths? Some had to struggle through the rigors of a "regular jobs" first. This "beautiful, life-affirming" revelation brought to you by TechCrunch.

Investors who aren't announcing another $1.5 billion fund still have to get attention somehow, or they'll lose deal flow to the latest venture celebrity. Gil Dibner, a VC at DFJ Espirit, thought maybe a "VC Code of Conduct" might do the trick. But the 17 point promise inadvertently outlines all the ways investors will give founders a raw deal.

For all their court-mandated blogging and self-promotion, venture capitalists keep the details of their decision-making to themselves. But newbie VC Ryan Sarver, Twitter's former director of platform, broke ranks about his first month on the job as partner at Redpoint Ventures.

It's perfectly fine to be a predatory sleaze after you invest in a company—but expecting a struggling startup founder to hand over cash just for ten minutes of your time is generally frowned upon. That's not stopping these VCs.

Reuters reports that Silicon Valley venture capitalists "have some 2007-style swagger back in their step." The good tidings come courtesy of the latest Silicon Valley Venture Capital Confidence Index, which indicates that "confidence levels have returned to pre-recession levels among investors in the San Francisco community.

Ding-dong, it's official: Silicon Valley's dream of a meritocracy—where innovative ideas from scrappy entrepreneurs hustle their way to the top—is dead. A new analysis from Reuters reporter Sarah McBride found that the startups getting funded by top venture capitalists have one thing in common: pedigree.

PandoDaily is all about transparency—while rival startup rag TechCrunch takes a more literary angle with its industry cuddling, Silicon Valley bully Sarah Lacy wants to be clear that she's in the business of tech PR. And finally, she's getting the thanks she deserves.

You probably recognize Bonobos, wildly successful purveyor of pants and other stuff (I think?), as that company that's always on your goddamn Facebook news feed, no matter how many times you click hide. But here's one reason to dig it: the CEO is a no-bullshit sage.

If you're going to join the bloated ranks of Dave McClure's VC firm, 500 Startups, there's something they want you to know: your startup totally might end up broke and fucked.