{"id":2949,"date":"2026-06-02T20:21:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T00:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/?p=2949"},"modified":"2026-06-02T20:22:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T00:22:29","slug":"creative-destruction-lab-try-inept-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/02\/creative-destruction-lab-try-inept-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative Destruction Lab? Try Inept Chaos."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was on the mailing list for Creative Destruction: it touts itself as &#8220;a non-profit organization that offers an objectives-based mentorship program for massively scalable, science-and technology-based startups. Founded in 2012 at the University of Toronto&#8217;s Rotman School of Management, it focuses on helping early-stage ventures commercialize cutting-edge scientific research.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In other words, it is taxpayer-funded university indulgence that doesn&#8217;t actually fund start-ups: they &#8220;mentor&#8221; and give &#8220;access&#8221; to investors, and naive solopreneurs and entrepreneurs can delude themselves into thinking they are getting something real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From my personal experience, these so-called &#8220;investors&#8221; get government subsidies to pretend they have a viable business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What these kinds of outfits are is a government make-work program for unemployable people with MBAs and PhDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They are a bit scattered brained, and I found out today just how much. I got this email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"601\" src=\"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.14-PM-1024x601.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2950\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.14-PM-1024x601.png 1024w, https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.14-PM-300x176.png 300w, https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.14-PM-768x450.png 768w, https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.14-PM-1536x901.png 1536w, https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.14-PM.png 1630w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The email was sent at 4:10 am, an odd choice to send such a message, but the email address was legit; so I went to see their calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You couldn&#8217;t book a single date. None were available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So I let them know their widget had creatively destructed and promptly unsubscribed. Don&#8217;t waste my time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then came an email blast which I found to be hilariously <em>rude<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.27-PM-1024x684.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2951\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.27-PM-1024x684.png 1024w, https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.27-PM-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.27-PM-768x513.png 768w, https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.27-PM-1536x1026.png 1536w, https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-7.58.27-PM.png 1664w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Especially this passage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Jun 2, 2026, you received an automated email sent on behalf of a Creative Destruction Lab team member about applying to the CDL-San Sebastian program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This automated email was sent in error to a broader audience than intended. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Translation: we didn&#8217;t mean to invite you, little peasant, but you can fill out the peon form because we need to inflate the number of applicants to pretend this process is &#8220;competitive&#8221; but you&#8217;ll get ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ll take a hard <em>pass<\/em> on this VC cosplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And to think they are well-shod goobers whose cushy lifestyle is funded by your tax dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But you keep quiet like a chump as you suffer in silence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was on the mailing list for Creative Destruction: it touts itself as &#8220;a non-profit organization that offers an objectives-based mentorship program for massively scalable, science-and technology-based startups. Founded in 2012 at the University of Toronto&#8217;s Rotman School of Management, it focuses on helping early-stage ventures commercialize cutting-edge scientific research.&#8221; In other words, it is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,460],"tags":[49,696,308,694],"class_list":["post-2949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alexandra-kitty","category-the-damage-report","tag-canada","tag-creative-destruction","tag-klueiq","tag-university-of-toronto"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2949"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2954,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2949\/revisions\/2954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}