Funding mechanism failure case studies

I’m often in conversations about how to help UK startups raise investment. A classic question is “how do we support founders who are too early for UK venture capital?”. As I spoke to one policy maker about this very question I realised I didn’t really know if these “unfundable” people or ideas existed. I want clear case studies for funding mechanisms failing - without these it is really difficult to properly diagnose what is going wrong. I fear that in discussions about startup funding people are talking over one another as they do not have a shared understanding of what ideas are not being funded.