That was my experience, and in retrospect it took my graduate advisor a decade to land an R01 based on the research I did while I was in school. She is a mid c

That was my experience, and in retrospect it took my graduate advisor a decade to land an R01 based on the research I did while I was in school. She is a mid career tenured faculty at a decent school. Her husband is an endowed professor at a research one school and they practically call him on the phone to give him money (That is total hyperbole, but he lands funding at a much higher rate in spite of the fact that both have successful research programs). It seems really difficult to break into the sphere of 'successful PI' when so mnany other successful PIs win the majority of the funding. It was one of the reasons I left academia. Not the only reason, but it figured into it.