Suppose the first slide of my 10 minute sales deck described building a house out of literal waffles, and letting customers eat those waffles. Would you actually pay attention to the other 9 minutes?

Overlooking the fact that if I attempted such a thing it would be amusing as hell. Imagine somebody taking that idea very seriously.

Waffle House exists [1] and so this sounds likes like a buried lede which is way better than most pitches. I've heard worse, much worse.

[1] https://www.wafflehouse.com/

There's a difference between "sells waffles" and "constructions a house using waffles as the building material", and I'm reasonably sure the second one doesn't exist.

I feel like the point is "you never know when an apparently crazy idea will turn into something reasonable, so you should always stick with someone until the end of their pitch and/or point."

Admittedly, I'm not sure that's universally true (we all have a limited amount of time, and it's reasonable to focus that time in places where it is going to give us the most benefit), but I'm pretty sure I see where the commenter is coming from.

Ahh yes, the famous "pivot" from building a house out of waffles to selling waffles.

Waffle House would probably get great mileage with a publicity stunt building a house made of waffles. Hearken back to Hansel and Gretel, use it to host a waffle-eating contest, donate excess pastries to charity. Could really revitalize the brand.

Y'all are missing the truly horrible part of my idea (though Hansel & Gretel is about the right idea). After the house is built, the customers are intended to eat the house itself. I didn't flesh out the whole idea in my comment, but they should be inside the house while eating it. If it's big enough to warrant the name "house" (not "shack" nor "misshapen pile") then it's big enough for its inevitable collapse to endanger the customers.

Responding further upthread: this is an illustration of a "time waster." They exist on both sides (investors / founders, salespeople / customers, etc) and recognizing them is an important skill. Time is your most valuable resource. Use it wisely.

What about if you just make & sell Italian food?

See, there are no bad companies, all companies can pivot. In fact the original idea doesn't matter at all. Hurr durr buy my startup book

Yeah people who use this phrase "noped out of it" usually have little tolerance for things they disagree with and won't continue diving deeper for nuance or any redeeming thoughts present in the article (which may or may not be there)

Yes, I think this single point is so moronic that it doesn't warrant entertaining anything further. Saying that a founder should go into personal debt, and if they don't they don't "believe" in their business enough, is mind-boggling.