The Sizzle Reel Startup (2023-2025) There is an entire genre of startups (especially in AI) who have raised massive rounds by releasing sizzle reel videos in the past two years. Basically a bunch of venture firms investing in the equivalent of a well-produced MTV music video that gets attention on X. Like a high school athlete sending a college coach a recruiting video that shows their “best plays” with hypey music, but not the entire game film. When you take the cameras & editors away, many of these startups have products with limited functionality that do not solve the 10% of edge cases that truly matter. I hope we all look back & agree this was a strange moment in time.