Often preceded by the waning of the passion and self sacrifice that enables things to happen without money.

It’s sad when it’s asymmetric - founders lose their idealism and sell out while early employees fail to notice the game has changed.

But dreams are rarely enough to keep things going. And VCs know just what to say to make it seem like the dream and the money can coexist.

Yep.

It can be power - see Reddit and Wikipedia mods - but it's usually money. And once VC fundraising is involved, it's pretty much always money.

Which is another way to say "viability".