Another little secret is the first priority of those speakers who are telling you their startup story and giving you advice is to impress you, not actually give

Another little secret is the first priority of those speakers who are telling you their startup story and giving you advice is to impress you, not actually give you any useful advice. Whatever stories of their startup they tell you are whitewashed, and any "juicy" details they tell you are exactly the type of wants they want to tell you because it will reflect some particular quality they want it to. There is nothing wrong with this, that is their incentive. But obviously for you this is a giant waste of time, and kudos for figuring it out.