Yeah maybe I'm being harsh as usual. If I got funding I'd start panicking and thinking to myself "shit now I have to make them a return"... But it often feels like announcements of funding are more like "yay we have cash! Lets buy an office, some go-karts, etc"

My personal experience has been that there's only one group you need to impress - your users/customers. If no one else believes in you so what?

Likewise, if you manage to get funding (convince one person you might have future success), but have no users/customers, it's a bit "meh".

Being rejected from X but accepted at Y still doesn't demonstrate if the idea/person behind it/etc will be successful or not.

I'm rambling now so I'll stop.