Startups: The Risks of Technology, Markets, and Teams

We look at investments with three kinds of risks involved, one is technology, another one is markets, the third is the team. US scientists will have a lock on the technology and we believe that you know what you're doing and that you'll get the product down to the marketplace in that venue. Markets for life sciences and medical devices are pretty well understood, how many people at what age, what kind of condition, your market is pretty well understood, your channels to market are pretty well understood. Market risks tends to be lower than in some of the other tech areas. Team is really what it's all about. People, people, people is Arthur Rock's saying... one of the three most important things in a venture and it proves itself over and over again to be absolutely true. Science is good, technology is terrific, it's the people that show up every morning and get stuff done during the day that make the difference and make your company valuable and help you be successful and that's it.