I realize that in practice you're very unlikely to get money without having traction. But if we're talking about which companies are deserving of money, if such

I realize that in practice you're very unlikely to get money without having traction. But if we're talking about which companies are deserving of money, if such a category exists, then surely the ones that go on to succeed must (in most cases) make the cut. Especially when they succeed despite having not gotten the money. I also get what you're saying though, in terms of the companies that deserve money are the ones that can convince investors that they deserve money.