MercuryNews.com | VC Speed Dating: Signs of a Bubble

"In an interesting sign of the times, venture capitalists in search of big returns are no longer waiting for revolutionary ideas to come to them.
Instead, VCs from some of the valley's biggest firms came to Stanford on Friday night for a speed-investing event called VC3 to meet with budding, Stanford-affiliated entrepreneurs in an attempt to marry fresh ideas with financing.
Company founders spent six minutes with each VC -- three to pitch them and three for feedback -- as part of EntrepreneurshipWeek USA, a first-time national effort sponsored by hundreds of organizations to encourage entrepreneurialism in the United States.
The attendees at this event needed no encouragement. ``VCs were actually contacting us about coming to this,'' said Stanford undergraduate Melissa Chan, one of the event's coordinators. ``We had to cap the number who came today. There was a waiting list.''
Entrepreneurs from roughly 40 start-ups were even more anxious to make the best use of the opportunity -- and to get future meetings with investors."