[ilyaeck]

They didn't throw "millions" at the idea. If you read the article carefully, they stopped after spending $1M, i.e., with 2/3 of their investors' money still in the bank. Yes, maybe they could've stopped/pivoted sooner, but once you are experimenting with something, you need to be patient enough to give it a shot. And it looks like the investors opted for sticking with the team for their next shot as opposed to taking that money back - an option that was on the table. That's an indicator of trust, so maybe the team isn't that clueless after all.