On Nov 18, 2007, at 10:41 AM, Richard Loosemore wrote:
An investor will want to know what creative ideas you have that *directly* start to solve that problem.These are available! Both Ben and I have detailed plans. Neither of us say "just trust me".
Wait, what? The "that problem" in this case is not AI, from a venture finance standpoint. Understand that you are essentially selling "a non-demonstrable idea on how to do research that may ultimately allow us to solve a problem", which is not the same thing as "solving the problem". You are looking for research money, not venture money.
One is allowed to have some amount of uncertainty in the business side of a venture because such things are always a bit non- deterministic. You can come up with an exceptionally detailed business plan for how you are going to become the next Sausage King of Chicago, but you never really know how the market game will unfold in practice.
Technology, on the other hand, can be very strictly evaluated in considerable detail such that there is little or no risk that it will turn out to be infeasible; it may not be economical or practical, but it will technically work. Furthermore, an acceptably detailed description such that you are not tacitly stating "just trust me" is indistinguishable from a prototype for most purposes. Unless the documentation demonstrates conclusively why the technology *must* work as intended, it is a "just trust me" proposition. And in some cases you can find investors who will find this to be an acceptable proposition if you have the rest of your game in order.
It sounds to me like you are either making a stronger assertion about your design and documentation than I see Ben usually make, or you are implicitly saying "just trust me" to investors and do not realize it.
Cheers, J. Andrew Rogers ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=66353418-b25d1e
