It also might be part of the reason why they're desperate to get funds from VCs in the first place. The whole "pay us out of the money we just gave you" model

It also might be part of the reason why they're desperate to get funds from VCs in the first place. The whole "pay us out of the money we just gave you" model doesn't make sense unless the funding is coming from an external source. My impression from reading all of this is that Bootup Labs is a scam. At best, they have a significant conflict of interest at the heart of their business model.