It's always been mildly annoying to us that businesses like Twitter and Facebook somehow managed to secure billion dollar valuations without even having a business plan. Jealousy aside, it's frustrating because these valuations fly in the face of conventional wisdom (and let's not forget logic and reason). Who gives a ten figure valuation to a company that's not seriously profitable? Potential should only matter so much. Trust us, there's a reason why a lot of us lost money on Sam Bowie rookie cards back in the '80s.

But as word has started to trickle out that companies like Twitter have started to lose value as a result of the financial crisis, we didn't quite experience the happy tinge of schadenfreude we thought we would. That's because it's bad news for all of us. Start-up valuations have plunged as whole by nearly 20% in the last year, reports Bloomberg. And as Twitter founder Evan Williams notes, "Everybody's worth less. The ecosystem takes a hit as a whole."

At the same time, we wonder: maybe a drop in start-up valuations isn't the end of the world. Sure, it means that it may be tough for start-ups to raise as much cash with the same business plan. But it's our humble opinion that the figures bandied about for Facebook and their ilk were insane to begin with. Maybe it's time they come down to earth a bit, even if it does mean that VCs won't sink quite as much cash into businesses like theirs. Besides, it might even put some of that fevered Bubble 2.0 talk to bed.

What do you think?