If no one was picking up their calls and it was obvious, then sure.

Not much is really that clear though.

In my tiny case a while back, I wiped my liquid savings to get me employees some time. Can't do that with over a thousand employees though!

Manic founders who insist that a rescue will come right up until the last second often leave people feeling burned and don't get as many second chances when things don't go well.

There is a big difference between a less than 1% chance and an 80% chance here. Part of the job is knowing that difference, and how to handle/communicate it.

I've heard it said that every boss of a failed company will tell you that they almost got a last minute investment, or almost made a big sale, or almost got acquired, if they'd only had an extra week or two it'd have all been different.

Of course that could be wishful thinking - or a sign that in the final days they were offering fire sale prices.