Original post reads as you have grudge because they were lazy. Sorry to say but this explanation got me thinking. Maybe those people actually had real insight

Original post reads as you have grudge because they were lazy. Sorry to say but this explanation got me thinking. Maybe those people actually had real insight that these ventures were not good investments. So I would not be so demeaning because they stopped being interested when it turned out there is a lot of work to be done and a lot of money to be spent. That it was good business idea for you - as you mention your time seemed to be worth less - it was not a good idea for them. From reading both comments it seemed that you could benefit greatly from those deals and for them putting focus/money elsewhere was more beneficial. As you wrote that comment and seem to have grudge against them, they took easy way out by not confronting you directly on that. I still might be wrong but maybe they were gracious enough to leave you alone and not shatter your dreams. I have seen in developed countries if you are sales person with a shiny car like BMW they will not deal with you and better strategy is to get high end VW to have nice stuff inside but from outside to seem like a decent person not a flashy sales scammer.