[wtvanhest]

I respectfully disagree. Founders blame the macro, but that blame is very often misplaced.

Even at massive scale, similar business diverge in profitability due to strategy decisions during all market conditions, including pandemics and other blackswan events

[geoburke]

Misdirected blame to preserve ego does not excuse the fact that the founders are the ones with the biggest impact on their own success. Access to a network incentivized to provide resources, fundraising, introductions, hiring, etc, can only bolster success probability.