Investment in a single startup is very risky, but if you were supplying the capital for a venture capital firm, I would imagine the investment would be much more consistent. I haven't done any real research, but I strongly suspect that a lot of VC firms are making good returns across their portfolios.
Yes, portfolio diversification is investing 101 (kinda curious how most of us here, when working on a new startup, will invest close to 100% of our awake time for months with no diversification)
Your post is somewhat related to what I said. The point I was making was that saying that startups are getting funded because there are no better assets for capital preservation are misguided. You are talking about "making good returns across their portfolios", that's not the goal of capital preservation, that's the goal of capital appreciation.