Agreed. But it can be a significant growth boost. Senior partners at high-profile VCs will meet with them. Early key hires they are trying to recruit will be favorably influenced by their reputation. The media will probably cover whatever they launch, accelerating early user adoption. Of course, the product still has to generate meaningful value - but all these 'buffs' do make several early startup challenges significantly easier to overcome. (Source: someone who did multiple tech startups without those buffs and ultimately reached success. Spending 50% of founder time for six months to raise first funding is a significant burden (working through junior partners and early skepticism) vs 20% of founder time for three weeks.)

Yes, I am not debating that it gets you a significant boost.

I’m personally not aware of a strong correlation with real business value created after the initial boost phase. But surely there must be examples.