I've worked with many startups and many VCs. The best VCs are investing in the team, not the product idea. The idea itself is basically nothing. It can get blown up in an instant and require a pivot. But the investor wants to know that the money they're giving out is going to people actually recognizing that and capable of successfully switching gears.

They're investing in people, not some singular half-baked idea that very likely goes nowhere.

In this case it sounds like both the idea was bad, and the team was bad.