I've seen this locally but a lot of investors aren't really in it for a return. They want to talk about being in to everyone at the country club and in their family. It is assets they can (usually) afford to lose. It is the same as buying a lamborghini, they want to be someone. Then if it does manage to hit, "look at what a genius I am".
I agree. This mentality only encourages "sexy startups", i.e. those with mass consumer appeal, over more fundamentally sound asset creation, e.g. smart traffic and rail signaling software, which in turn incentivizes entrepreneurs to build sexy startups - which lets be honest are mainly social apps these days - then rinse and repeat.
Do people actually consider rail signaling software "unsexy"? It's like a router for trains instead of packets. If I was an investor I would much rather brag about my investment in freight train routing infrastructure than a tinder for IoT users app.
Also not being an investor, I agree with your ranking. Even better would be any sort of heavy industry. Elon Musk's stuff (rockets, cars, tunnels) is mighty nice. Refineries, 100-ton forges, container ships, and similar are all more impressive than software.
You're not a typical investor in the described class. Frankly, I suffer from this expectation sometimes too - many things that seem wildly off course make sense from the perspective of the folks driving the ship.
