Unlike other venture capitalists. Rock has few private investors as clients and hence is under little outside pressure. Rock invests slices of his own fortune and the money of a few close friends, limiting himself to three or four deals a year. He makes sure that the companies he finances are close to his office so that he does not have to travel much. Rock looks for ideas, people and products that together can form the keystones for major new industries. He is almost always one step ahead of fashion and never expects a quick payoff. He makes up his mind swiftly, acts decisively, moves quietly and seems to have an impeccable sense for where technology and markets will meet. Says California Financier Max Palevsky, who made a fortune as a founder of Scientific Data Systems, a mainframe computer maker that Xerox acquired in 1969 for $950 million: "Arthur has an incredible intuition. His nose never ceases to amaze me."