Most startups die from failing to gain users, not necessarily because they planned expenditures poorly.
Which reminds me of an interview with a German logistics start-up recently. They are funded by 100 million €, a lot of cash for what is basically a simple forwarder. When the co-founder said, that they don't see any risk for them, because their run-way is somewhere between 12 and 18 months I was shocked They have customers, they charge a margin for every transport. Yet they seem not to be cash positive. And their burn rate is at the very least somewhere around 2 million per months.
Coming from that industry, I have no idea how that is even remotely possible. If the crisis would have hit 6 months later, their situation would have been a lot different. And that during a period where everyone is scrambling to keep transportation and logistics running.
It kinda sucks, because I say it's healthier to have a large number of small, competing businesses than a winner-takes-all scenario.
Generally only governments and massive cash cow monopolies or near monopolies can afford to invest in basic research. That's because on any time scale shorter than a decade basic research is just setting fire to money. You need money to burn to do it.