I think it's pretty accurate to say that they'll readily fund a band of outsiders if they think the idea's good, but still, they also put out terms that make it

I think it's pretty accurate to say that they'll readily fund a band of outsiders if they think the idea's good, but still, they also put out terms that make it easy to take over the company if they don't see the founders as "real founders", "made men", "like us", or however you want to describe that status. Also, here's the difference for real founders vs. the rest of us. Real founders get alternatives put in front of them when their ideas are rejected-- EIR gigs to pay the bills, spots in portfolio companies. The rest of us get zilch; spent months with no income and nothing to show for it. Real Founder social status doesn't mean that bad ideas get funded, but it does mean you don't have to deal with the extreme income risk associated with startups for non-Real Founders-- a risk that stops making sense to take after age 25.