Unfortunately, very few of those are dot-coms. Most likely, the VC firms you'll be courting will have gone through some painful divorces over the past year. They are gun shy and have lost untold sums of money. But, they're resilient and there's always a chance for wedding bells in your future if your idea has the right sex appeal. Getting Back into the Scene Now that you know a little bit about VCs' past relationships, it'll help your case if you know what they're looking for in a new dot-com relationship.
Venture capitalists have a very simple agenda.
They give your dot-com money, and in return, your job is to make them more money. A lot more money. Up until last summer, that exit strategy was taking a dot-com public. Many VCs invested in companies on the assumption that a startup could count on a second round of financing within six months and would be public in 12 months. Accordingly, they typically only budgeted for a six-month supply of cash.