That's super interesting. I'm torn between thinking the terms of this deal are clever and thinking they're usurious. Putting that aside for a moment, though,

That's super interesting. I'm torn between thinking the terms of this deal are clever and thinking they're usurious. Putting that aside for a moment, though, this seems like a pre-accelerator. Traditional startup accelerators invest like vcs, but earlier and with worse terms. This company invests like an accelerator, but earlier (before the company's even started) and with worse terms. It invests in people years before they even start their business. It's a people accelerator. They say they'll fund musicians + artists, which is interesting because those people aren't super likely to go on to found venture-friendly businesses. My guess is that those people are funded in order to provide a better + more creative environment for the people who are more likely to go on to start a company. And probably also some amount of marketing: a collection of geniuses of all ilks sounds like more fun to hang out with than just a bunch of pre-seed startup founders.