First of all, I wouldn't be too upset about it if I were you. I assume that these start-ups have some oversight from the incubator/investors, and therefore befo

First of all, I wouldn't be too upset about it if I were you. I assume that these start-ups have some oversight from the incubator/investors, and therefore before they pivot, much discussion is going on about why they are giving up the product they initially pitched and why the new product is a better one. Pivoting happens, the danger is when it is happening as an excuse not to launch. Using your example of the company that was going to 'distrupt an industry through hi-tech and innovative web and mobile apps' and then became an 'online magazine', these two things may not be as different as you're thinking. The first idea seems huge and maybe not possible in the near term. The second seems simple, and is maybe just a foot in the door to something larger. In the end, the companies aren't receiving investment just because of the idea. It's also about the team and their ability to execute. The team didn't change, the ideas do. It happens. As an example, I know of somebody who created a great business in online photos. They sold the company, and went to have another go and raised funding to make a camera that was easy to download photos from over wifi (this was in the late 90s). The camera became too much of a pain to make, so they went and created another very successful photo company. That's a huge pivot. From getting into hardware to mostly just making software, but it worked out better for their investors than had they stuck to the original plan, which wasn't going to work.