Here's what I took from his response: people aren't ready to invest without some strong of signal of worth. Makes total sense. And his response of current sign

Here's what I took from his response: people aren't ready to invest without some strong of signal of worth. Makes total sense. And his response of current signaling coming from well-known investors does jive with my own experience, esp. for seed stage. But, a lot of this starts to disappear once a company is looking for Series A+. Because now you have actual financials/product+market to look at. I would also argue the value of "smart" money is more towards the seed stage anyway. So, shift focus away from seed stage, and into crowdfunding Series A+. In other words, enable a) bootstrappers who have found product/market fit to take things to the next level b) the common man to invest in a way a bank might.