Slideware, Vaporware, and the Founders Who Never Built Anything

Logosofia no Dia a Dia · Sep 17, 2026 · 20m

Daniel asked about the conmen of venture capital — the founders who cook up a gorgeous deck and ride the easy money train. This episode separates three categories that usually get lumped together: slideware (the pitch is the product), vaporware (the announcement is the product), and outright fraud (there was never a product at all). From Builder.ai's $450 million collapse to Theranos, Frank, Rothenberg Ventures, and Delve, we trace why an industry built on pattern-matching keeps wiring money to stories — and why "fake it till you make it" only gets called fraud in hindsight. Episode 5288 —…