[costapopescu]

Fun fact: American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC) was one of the first venture capital firms founded in 1946 by Georges Doriot, the "father of venture capitalism" (former dean of Harvard Business School), Karl Compton (former president of MIT) and Ralph Flanders. ARDC is credited with the first major venture capital success story when its 1957 investment of $70,000 in Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) got valued at over $355 million after the company's IPO in 1968 (representing a return of over 1200 times on its investment and an annualized rate of return of 101%).