[bobwaycott]

> These often-discussed milestones have lead a lot of founders to believe they’re ready to raise when they’re not.

The word here is led, not its metallic homonym.

I do not understand why this mistake appears to be increasing in occurrence over the last few years.

[akharris]

Whoops! Thanks for catching the typo. Much appreciated.

[eric_h]

> I do not understand why this mistake appears to be increasing in occurrence over the last few years.

Autocorrect, perhaps?

[bobwaycott]

Perhaps? I’ve never seen autocorrect suggest lead when I’m typing led, but maybe it happens to others for sure. On the other hand, I see it not only far more frequently in online usage, but far more consistently, as if people think lead is a homonym of the same-spelling sort, not the same-sounding sort.