In the heady days of the first dot-com boom, a sketch on a napkin and a sparkle in a coder’s eye could net a nice seed round from angel investors. Subsequent rounds, it seemed, would flow like chocolate at a fondue party.
Then the bubble burst and napkin sketches turned into business plans and three-year forecasts. Investors became a little more sophisticated and entrepreneurs had to learn to pitch. Then along came the lean startup canvas, bootstrapping and SaaS business models. Incubators and coaches and pitch competitions sprang up like dandelions on a spring lawn.
Then 2018 happened.