They could also make you invest in their partner companies (or even their own) and have themselves invested prior to that in the same company, then sell later, making them a bigger cut, or similar schemes. What I mean is that it’s not that simple.

overall their work is not that hard and statistically doesn’t pay off, at least in the past years

They’re trying to stay relevant, but ETFs are now the main way of investing and are providing more interest than picking niche fields. They’re doing what they can to stay relevant, but it doesn’t really work