If you would like us to consider an investment in your company, you should e-mail or send an executive summary or PowerPoint presentation of your company's business to one of our Partners. The materials should include the names and backgrounds of the company's key personnel and board of directors. You should also indicate the stage and amount of financing you are seeking.

If the investment opportunity is one we would like to pursue, we will request a copy of your complete business plan. If after reviewing the plan our interest continues, we will ask for a meeting with the founders and/or senior management. Management presentations are expected to be informal and interactive; we are as interested in getting a sense of the quality of the people who are going to make your company successful as we are gaining an understanding of your business.

Since we often co-invest with other venture firms and strategic corporate investors, we may want to introduce you to other potential investors. Be assured that we will obtain your permission before doing so.

We will perform extensive due diligence on key aspects of your business, including your technology, markets, competition, management backgrounds, customers/prospects, legal matters and financial projections. A key characteristic we look for in management teams is its understanding of, and willingness to discuss, the challenges facing their companies, and their candor about their company's weaknesses as well as its strengths.

When we decide to make an investment that we intend to lead, we will present a term sheet. Valuation, terms of the securities to be received, board seats, etc. will be negotiated at that stage. Definitive legal documents will follow. Please be assured that while the negotiated terms must meet our needs as investors, we understand that the needs of the teams we are betting on must also be met, and that the interests of management and investors must be aligned if the company (and our investment) is to be successful. We receive many requests for investment. We place a lot more weight on those requests which come through a referral by someone we know than ones submitted over the transom. In any event, we will endeavor to review and respond to each submission as quickly as possible as we understand how important it is for companies seeking funding to know quickly which paths they should or should not pursue.