Knowing the characteristics of the venture capital firm you’re talking to is really, really important and too few people do their research in advance of these sorts of discussions. If you’re selling a product, you wouldn’t walk in to a customer and not know how they think about the product you are trying to sell and the same holds true when you’re raising money. We happen to be investors sometimes in life-sciences companies, so somebody that’s developing an idea that’s around the life-sciences, we’re a great target for. But if you’re not raising money that is intended to fund a life-sciences business then we’re probably not as interested. The more you know that going in, the more likely you are to have a productive, healthy, and useful conversation with the investor.
