It seems consistent with anything I've ever read from VCs - success is based on teams/people not the idea (and it's quite common for startups to "pivot" to brand new ideas if one is not getting traction).

The Microsoft investment in OpenAI came out of a chance meeting between Altman and Nadella at some conference they were both attending - Altman pitched him on the idea, and was evidentially very persuasive to get that level of investment!