A peek inside a venture-capital pitch meeting

Pretty clueless article. I'd expect better forom the washington post, but on the other hand, what do they know about VCs? Don't read if you want to know what raising money from VCs looks like.

About eight partners who are lawyers, MBAs and financial types sit around a conference table while an entrepreneur "pitches" the business

That's your problem right there. No former entrepreneurs as partners? Financial and MBA types only? Fail.

I don't know, it does sound like the firm has a decent track record.

"Entrepreneurs can't build anything without money"

... w t f? That is insulting on so many levels.

How about them being smart enough to recognize the good idea and find the talent as well? Am I naive? I understand that VCs are not the ones that need the money but also they want to make money.

"While some members of Grotech's team liked Wieler's idea, they said he didn't articulate his vision for the company very well."

If they liked it where is the problem then?

T.

I think the stuff about articulating his vision is a VC's polite way of saying that they don't like the founder. And typically, how they feel about the founder(s) is a lot more important than how they feel about the idea.