Question: Do all VCs have degrees from the very top schools? Is it a job requirement? I will graduate soon from an honors program at a state school. The conversation usually goes well when I pitch my background, internship, and areas of expertise then takes a turn for the worse when I say where I […]

Question: I’m curious. I understand that VCs have primarily four functions they perform: raising funds, screening and investing in new businesses, managing current portfolio companies and some level of investor relations and internal operations. How do you divide your work day? What percentage of time do you think you dedicate to each area? Maybe I’m […]

Question: What’s the position of the VC community in general (and yours in particular) with regards to startups with non-resident alien founders having no work permits in the US, but having valid business visas to enter US at any time? Our Take: We can’t speak for the entire VC community on this topic (but would […]

Question: We are considering opening up an offshore development office (location not yet selected). I would like to know if this is a negative factor in the eyes of the VC community. What should we consider before we make the jump? Our Take: If executed properly, VCs are usually strong supporters of offshore development centers. […]

Question: You guys talk about Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital Funds (VC). What’s the difference? Our Take: Well, you “caught us.” Technically, VC is a subset of PE. Private Equity deals are simply deals that aren’t available for public participation. This includes VC, angel investing, hedge funds, buy out funds, etc. The definition of […]

Question: How does the VC community deal with open source? I am working on an embedded device that can be built either way, open or closed. This decision is complicated since our group (due to past successes) is capable of funding the first few rounds internally. We won’t need external VC until the last round […]