Chances are those satisfied people exist, but you never hear of them because they never left bootstrapping territory. Honesty, modesty and getting investment, you can pick at most two. Because telling a would-be investor "I'll be happy breaking even" is equivalent to openly announcing that you'll steal their money.

I think the issue was they were creating the market for these *coins.

The reason people wanted to gamble in these alt coins is the wild returns. These returns would not have been possible if these business had operated as a lawful like gambling operation.