[jedc]

When I was in business school, I took a class on venture capital from one of the earliest VCs in the valley. (He invested in Intel, for example.)

One of the two founders of Genentech was a good friend of his, and so he had the opportunity to put the first money into what became Genentech. But he refused to do it because they were good friends, and instead helped him find other investors.

Somehow I don't necessarily see something like this happening often in today's funding environment.