I see people often talk to founders from the lens of "I am an investor in your product"

Do these people realise that buying the token speculatively does not make you an investor?

Unless your purchase has gone directly into that project's treasury, you haven't invested a cent.

Investors provide funds for projects to operate, but AMM trades don't really route revenue through to the project itself.

Some may see it as a trivial distinction but to me it's worlds apart. Trading is not investing.