Grimm, the former CEO of hugely successful Hybritech, never needed angel funding in his executive days. A previous stint at behemoth Eli Lilly saw to that. But his experience running pharmaceutical products through the circuitous path of FDA approval and mass production has initiated many a brilliant scientist who lack the ability to lead and think like a businesss warrior. Younger people don't have that. Whether investing in biotechs is any riskier than wagering on software companies, Grimm likes what his friend and one of San Diego's philanthropic towers, software entrepreneur Peter Preuss, has to say on the matter.
Software is just the opposite.
He said we know we can build software. You don't know if someone is going to buy or engineer around your software. You just never hear about them. When told that some angels have been compared to grandfathers, Grimm laughed. Yeah, I like that.