Well, Charles Hudson – @chudson – a seasoned entrepreneur and VC looks at it this way. We invest in people and opportunities, not decks. More insightful, however, is the following statement “I am sensitive to wasting people’s time, but I’ve learned that I do a better job paying attention to pitches and giving people a fair shake when I come in unbiased”.
My take is that I’m very much like Charles’ in that my initial cut is ‘do I believe in the thesis’ and then ‘is this the right set of assets’ to pull it off. I have a strong bias, my living is made in putting the right assets together and the recipe to best leverage their collective strengths.
What’s your take?