* generations of prior businesspeople doing

Let's not forget that Enron, Theranos and WeWork propagated a form of corporate fraud that is not foreign to the modern corporate investment system. There are always opportunities to bolt on corporate structures that juice the plausible metrics and existence of an "investable" moat, but at least in more public markets oriented world of yesteryear, SEC regulations could be put in place to plausibly protect main street investors. In the current engorged state of private capital, many private investors will have to learn due diligence the hard way, or they will lose their shirts to exceedingly savvy hucksters and grifters masquerading as trailblazing mavericks.