Generally speaking, yes, real investors are heartless wolves. Whenever banks have better deal - they go to bank.
Investing in a bunch of smart ambitious dudes is already an extremely risky endeavor.
But its a spectrum, not black and white.
When money is cheap (aka “good” times) more investors are ready for more risky investments. When money is expensive - less.
1) but was it any different in stable times? 2) I’ve looked at projects that got funding — almost any AI project with a dumb idea raises millions, but that’s not risk — that’s a safe and stable project. 3) for real investors, the emergence of a huge number of new technologies multiplied by global economic shifts is a great opportunity — new markets appear and old ones are being redistributed. It doesn’t get any better than this.