If an entrepreneur takes equity funding from a VC, then likely the VC will be a Member of the Board of the entrepreneur with enough power to fire the entrepreneur. So, the entrepreneur, in his trip in a small canoe across rough waters on the way to distant, solid land, needs to be very sure anyone else in that canoe is really good to have along and won't be a nervous Nellie who will break ranks, stand, and scream at the first big waves that rock the canoe.<p>In particular, in information technology (IT), what fraction of the VCs would an entrepreneur eagerly hire as, say, a co-founder, a CTO, CIO, lead developer, DBA, network administrator? How about listen to in a discussion about a 'pivot'? How about as Chief Scientist to stir up new, powerful, valuable 'secret sauce'? Did I omit Power Point expert? Gee, why would I omit Power Point expert?<p>Another point: The day before taking the check, the entrepreneur may own 100% of the business. The day after taking the check the VC owns maybe 30% of the business, an additional fraction is set aside for employees, and the rest 'belongs' to the entrepreneur except is in a four year 'vesting' schedule which means the entrepreneur now owns NONE of his business and, if fired by the Board, leaves with NOTHING, zip, zilch, zero, not even the source code he typed in to begin with. Bummer.<p>Next, now IT VCs don't invest in pigs, chickens, dedicated, driven, devoted founders or any other barnyard or other nonsense. Instead, VCs invest in numerical metrics that correlate well with future financial value. Generally the VCs invest in 'traction', just traction, already significant and growing rapidly.<p>Then there's now a rub, a big issue: If the traction is significant, say, 10 Web pages served a second with 3 ads per page and $1 CPM, then just why should the entrepreneur take the check?<p>Or, think of a US Main Street business in anything from a carry out pizza shop to a landscaping service: They don't get venture capital. But a PC server able to deliver 10 Web pages a second costs much less than even an oven for a pizza shop and much less than a truck for a landscaping service. The difference for the IT entrepreneur is that if the project is at all successful, then (1) the entrepreneur can lean back and let the server PC do the work and (2) has a chance of growing rapidly into a significant business to own, sell, or do an IPO. So, an IT entrepreneur can proceed as for a Main Street business until money is coming in and then see if a really good business can result. Nowhere in there is much of a role for a VC Power Point expert.