FWIW, this is what a 409A valuation is supposed to do. But that is often done long after a funding round is closed. The PR people and journos need a simple number to report on the story as the deal is announced. I would argue nobody really knows what the company is worth at that point (with the exception of the new lead investor, who may have a model for it).
Interestingly, the authors look at 409A valuations, which funnily enough have the opposite problem. From the article: "Low values reduce taxes; coincidentally, 409A valuations commonly use questionable assumptions that
significantly deflate values." (p. 8)
