Software engineers stuck in the pandemic rust belt

A bunch of software engineers borrowed millions of dollars in exchange for 10% equity, then never did any work. As engineers, they knew they stuck, that their rust belt startup would never pay back the loans without actual products. So they went on a spending spree, blowing the money on office furniture and fancy equipment for a cutting-edge factory in the middle of nowhere. <br><br>The startup rust belted because the engineers knew their startup would fail without products. So they went and created competing products on the side and sold them back to their own startup for profit. The competing products stuck, becoming the best-selling devices in the world. The engineers rust belted their own startup from the inside out.