"A robot pizza delivery startup that raised almost half a billion dollars has shut down after a series of technological setbacks, according to The Information."

The answer feels pretty obvious. This whole thing was a vaporware pump and dump scheme to rip off investors. No one needs 500 million dollars and 7 years to build a pizza robot; but that's a lot of years of salary and making PowerPoints. Legitimate productive cost effective engineering strategies for their core product probably left the discussion space after they raised their first million dollars of funding, and all the people actually capable of solving tasks left soon after the company was taken over by bozos

Actually this company was run by bozos from the start, it never looked like it was going to work imo

I've always wondered how this is done. Like, if I'm born lower class, but can see through all the bullshit, how the game is played, the investor pump and dump exit schemes, can I play the game? Or is entry to the game only possible via a special ticket, i.e. like an Ivy League degree? Are these milkers and exit strategists starting off well-connected already?

The challenge is believing the bullshit. The less knowledgeable people with the money (investors) can only do so much research into how right or wrong a potential investment is… fundamentally if they were more knowledgeable than the people doing the business then they would have seen the opportunity and already have a decision about it… which creates paradoxical decision making, “if it was so obvious it would have been done before” leads to “they must be so smart for working this out” which leads to decisions that amount to “I trust them $X that they are worth $Y”.

Once you have the money your kind of wedded to the idea… if it was weird or audacious you have a certain level of follow through necessary to “save face” and be believed next time you present an idea and promise it’s worth what you claim it might be, hence why a dumb idea like this pizza van, took years to finally die.

The follow through on the idea requires believing in it… or at least convincing everyone giving you money that you believe. Because if you don’t believe it’s really able to make money, then your basically lying to them.

Anybody can play, but you need to get a bunch or rich folk to give you money. How you do that is your choice.