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Pastimes : From A to Zeev" -- SI Sacks Zeev -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (150)	1/5/1998 9:19:00 PM
From: Zeev Hed	Respond to of 708

Mephisto, There are two issues here, the first is the use of E-mail addresses of posters that include their e-mail in their profile. I include mine and I get at least five e-mails per day from people I do not know. These are people that do not post here but have bought a membership simply to harvest or sell mailing lists to third parties. It could even be that SI itself is selling these lists (AOL does). The other issue relates to an active participant on the thread that has been asked at least 50 times in private e-mails how does one get on the "ground floor" where VC usually make their killings. My responses has been that even good VC do not have a hit rate of better than 1 out of 3, for just a so-so return, and one out of 10 for a very good "home run" as they call it. These are figures I have heard time and time again from the various VC I am consulting. In view of what seems a thirst for such investments avenue, and the fact that that six months ago I started negotiations for a license in a unique field, once the license was obtained (late September), I decided to privately approach first those that have contacted in such matter in the past and then people with whom I have had many internet exchanges. My other possible approaches were VC funding and approaching a third party (an ongoing company in the field of photodynamic therapy) to take on the project. The latter choice was not practical since the participants are themselves start ups still struuggling to get their products through the FDA. The VC route, I was laredy using for another venture, so I chose contacting a number of people I have known in the past, including interlocutors from the internet (By the way, at this point in time more than half of the commitments are from non internet prior business contacts). Naturally, the majority of the people from SI do not know who I am and I could be a crook. In the same manner any one of those buying these e-mails might be hypists, crooks or honest people. I thought I have an advantage since most people on the threads I have been active on should by now at least have a gut feeling about my personality. By the way, Mephisto, in parallel to this venture I am helping start another company (Thiktilos) with Venture Funding, and you may ask why I selected the first for this cyber exercise and not the latter. The reason is simple, the latter has five years of a lot of hard work and lot of mezzanine funding before it (the products will need to go through the painful PMA process) turns a profit, while this one, was unique in that very rapid cash flow was possible, because the standard PMA route is not required. Anyone that ever started a medical venture knows the difference between the two. Last, what are the dangers of misuse of the new medium by crooks? It is very great, but I do not see how you prevent people falling into "Bad Schemes" unless they do due diligence on the person behind such a venture. In my case, I have provided a web site to check on my background, everyone is invited here to see a prototype, or talk to me on the phone, check the existence of a market on the Psoriasis Foundation's independent site and use whatever other means are necessary in their due dili. Yet, I will be the first one to note, new companies have a very high death rate, and even the most promising entreprise will meet Mr. Murphy, in product development, and various market problems later on. On the other hand, if a new start up manages to overcome these hurdles and succeed, the payoff are sometimes quite astonishing. It is a very high risk very high reward situation that I still feel I should offer to my "interlocutors" on SI if they are interested. I hope this lengthy post more or less responds to your querry. Zeev