I love this bit: "The first practitioners, including Eugene Kleiner and me, had familiarity with Wall Street operators and we set up our partnerships to avoid

I love this bit: "The first practitioners, including Eugene Kleiner and me, had familiarity with Wall Street operators and we set up our partnerships to avoid specifically problematic practices. These parameters included: no leverage; audited statements; never investing personal capital where the partnership could or should do so (that is, no "cherry picking" at the investors expense); no profit participation until the investor's entire capital had been repaid; limited partnership life and no investments of new capital in older deals. These early ideas have become nearly universal over the decades. And in my opinion, they have kept our industry healthy, profitable and largely scandal-free. It is time the venture industry is rewarded for the work that we do and how we go about doing it. We are not asking for bailout money or additional tax breaks. We simply want those in the Beltway to leave us alone and let us do our jobs—which means creating more jobs for our country."