since I find Mr Geer's commentary among the most interesting and informed of all those on this list (very odd to even suspect him of trolling), I investigated what you wrote, and here's what I found. your own quotation notes that IQT says "our model is unique." "unique" because they do not consider themselves a venture firm. that same paragraph (read whole thing at https://www.iqt.org/about-iqt/) ends: "for each dollar that IQT invests in a company, the venture capital community invests more than nine dollars." clearly, IQT does not see itself as part of the VC community. the reasons for this look relatively straightforward: IQT is a not-for-profit, and VC is built exclusively around making direct financial profit from its investment. a not-for-profit VC is almost a contradiction in terms, since "profit" and "venture" in this context mean almost the same thing. Practically, VCs have, as a rule, a hands-off if perhaps mentorly relationship with their investments. that page makes clear that IQT gets directly involved with their partner companies, probably including technologists and technologies. this list discusses matters of great detail and legal import frequently, and precise accuracy in these matters strikes me as essential. i am not endorsing what IQT does, or the correctness of Mr Geer's statements, and I have no remote connection with any of the parties or their services, but am very interested in the record being kept clear. On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 11:08 PM, Alfie John <alfiej@fastmail.fm> wrote:
What a weird statement to make (not sure if trolling). From In-Q- Tel's website:
"We identify and invest in venture-backed startups developing technologies that will provide “ready-soon innovation” (within 36 months) vital to the intelligence community mission...
As a strategic investor, our model is unique. Our investments accelerate product development and add mission-critical capabilities with the sole purpose of delivering these cutting-edge technologies to IC end users quickly and efficiently."