'Fake it till you make it' — smart startup survival instinct, or the exact behavior that got Theranos and FTX built?

Options

• Smart instinct, in moderation. Every pitch deck involves some optimistic fiction.
• That instinct is exactly the problem, the line just moves until someone crosses it completely.
• There's a real difference between confidence and fraud, and most founders know which side they're on.
• Every industry does this, startups just get caught more publicly.