GoDaddy buys superbowl ads - buying a domain is very mainstream.
I have seen the "multiple startups in the works" thing though- that is definitely not a good sign.
The cure has been to get the relative involved in the fiasco, where I'll do the work, but they have to be involved. By the time all the poop hits the fan, they finally got a hefty dose of what we have to go through.
In the most recent one-of-these, the serial entrepreneur brainwashed my sister into believing that his new idea does everything and will make us all millionaires. His previous adventures resulted in crashes (or paranoid delusions that the oil companies killed off his customers), and he whined about the folks who "left him stranded". He didn't own the domains of the previous adventures. He didn't own this domain (I made my sister set this one up, so it is hers). As this project got closer to something sellable, he got crazier and crazier and then decided to dilute my sister and my shares (1/3 each) to 1/20th each as he wanted to bring on "friends" he had shafted during previous misadventures. The sad thing is that my sister used to be a developer before getting trapped in a cult, so she should have known better. But now she does.
Since that eliminates nearly every story-dreamer, its best to take small steps in a traditional "pay me for my time until we agree that we can be partners".
Owning 10% of something is still owning 10% of nothing until it's making profit. Profit is a funny word, meaning once you've spent everything in your revenue. I don't hear of many people making money when they take shares in a company like this.