Each firm invited the entrepreneurs to second and then third meetings. But neither deal materialized. Maybe they were pumping us for information and we were being naive. We just don't think you can do it. They're basically telling you you're not good enough and all these other people are.
People can be brutal.
In early 1999, however, Ms. Peterson landed a meeting with Compaq Computer Corp. and AltaVista Co., then a unit of Compaq that operated a popular Internet search site. Nine people, Mr. Katz replied. Charles and Kelly were pitching what we thought we could do, and Mike was back here working frantically to get us there. To his partners, Mr. Slemmer seemed up to the task. Mr. Slemmer, while running Connect Group, three times got perfect scores on practice exams for the Law School Application Test.