Venture Capital doesn't work the way founders and startup employees think it does.
1. A VC's job isn't to "pick" startups like you might pick stocks on the public market. It's almost besides the point, which is why junior associates and analysts get the most face time and source a lot of deals.
2. Venture Capital isn't a meritocracy, it's not fair, and it sure as hell isn't a competition. Most founders realize this after their first go around, but it's worth repeating because too many first time founders get wrapped up in getting funding, as if it's like getting into college or doing well on a test.
3. While angel investors are well advised to try picking potential unicorns or decacorns, VC funds most often don't. The reason the internet thinks this is that the biggest funds spend the most money on PR, because they have the biggest budgets, because management fees scale with fund size. These big funds invest later and need the biggest valuations to make money. There are many models a fund can operate on, and in fact most institutional limited partners will allocate capital to a number of funds with different models and strategies. To be a successful VC, you don't need to pick the next Uber, you need to pick a model, strategy, market focus, or technological thesis that fits within the broader strategy of your LPs and isn't a duplicate of their existing LP allocations.
4. If you invest in a founder, the total percentage of your interactions with them that include startup pitching will trend towards zero. Most experienced VCs will give your formal pitch less weight than the sum of their other interactions with you. The reason formal pitches are so important is because the investment committee (which tends to vote on and discuss investments at length) is mostly made up of people who haven't had much interaction with you. The real goal of a pitch is to not be objectionable to anyone whose opinion matters.