Based on the material covered in this chapter, what questions would you ask the firm’s founders before making your funding decision? What answers would satisfy you?

Business Idea: Design and manufacture a telepresence robot that allows someone to remotely inhabit the body of the robot and have the freedom to roam around an office building, school, or other facility even though the person inhabiting the body of the robot is hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Pitch: There are many circumstances that would cause someone to want to be virtually present in one location even though they are physically present in another. An example would be a scientist or engineer in one location wanting to spend a day interacting with colleagues in another location. Short-term discussions can be facilitated by video-conferencing tools such as Skype. But Skype limits participants to a single location where they each have access to a monitor that is projecting the Skype call. What if someone in one location wants to be virtually present in a second location, and wants to be able to move from office to office or lab to lab to interact with a variety of colleagues?