This is all due to the criteria for survival and graduation. Let’s be honest, not every idea will work and this does not reflect badly on the researcher who came up with it. But the only way to graduate and put food on the table is to keep getting funding through novel papers that have great results.
> But the only way to graduate and put food on the table is to keep getting funding through novel papers that have great results.
So in the way in which it matters, it does reflect badly on the researcher who came up with it.
Maybe not in SV, but I have heard plenty of people tell startup founders to "get a real job" or refer to trying a startup as a "figuring it out phase."
When a startup some friends founded failed, they had to deal with people wondering if they chose the startup route as they couldn't get real jobs upon graduation.
So, yes, in some places.