> How is it a success if he burns through the money and fails to bring the product to market in a meaningful way? A lot of regular people "burn through money"

> How is it a success if he burns through the money and fails to bring the product to market in a meaningful way? A lot of regular people "burn through money" and fail to deliver any sort of value in the process of their daily job. We consider them successful to some extent, right? How is raising funds but failing to deliver any different compared to one of those more conventional members of society? And having raised $13m allows you to be one of those "less productive" workers for the rest of your live. > unless the inventor runs away with the money Well, he doesn't need to literally run away. There are more nuanced ways of failing to deliver, without being a criminal. After all, there's no guarantee on this sort of investement right? At the same time, this is money that'll be flowing into the economy one way or the other. So it's not all bad.