Ask HN: Startup – what's it called when

In a startup: As soon as a 'make the company profitable' customer fades a startup CEO will magically find a shiny new customer to make the hockey graphs work out. The company will then pivot enough to try and engage that customer, but it doesn't work out for some reason or another. It's obviously a tactic to keep the troops motivated and investors from asking hard questions. All companies have customers that don't work out, but I mean a repeating pattern that becomes predictable over at least a year or more. It feels like this is sort of common. Is there a term for this?