What they said, what was heard, and what was later remembered became the subject of considerable interpretation and debate. These people took the heat and the blame for errors in expectations. Probably no one - it's nearly impossible to adequately communicate visions and abstractions to an audience who is hoping to hear only the best. You're reading it. Just knowing how perceptions and expectations have caused difficulties in other start-ups can help you avoid the same trap.
Companies are well intentioned just like new employees.
Neither one wants to deliberately mislead the other because the results are very unfortunate. If a potential employee lies about his work experience and skills, he'll either get found out and not hired, or get hired and get fired because he can't do the job. If the company deliberately misleads potential employees it knows it will have morale and productivity problems after people are hired. Nobody wins by deceit. When I think of how intentions meet up with realities, I'm reminded of the story of a person who hired on with a new company.