[chrisgarand]

They're people as well, the good ones use it as a way to test the conviction of the founding team. If they can't take a few verbal licks, why would they be able to acquire enough customers to gain traction? Not a perfect test, but it has proven to be a workable process where the ones with the most conviction always get _something_. Sometimes it's too late, and sometimes it doesn't work out. That's life.

[lmeyerov]

Yes, I agree -- many like to believe they are into deep tech and category creation, but even of those, most punt until a lot has been derisked. For deep tech / category creation, by the time the risk is gone, you are into growth phase. Someone like Lux Capital is on a very short list of exceptions.