It makes perfect sense that they would want to show some kind of saleable momentum. Isn't the rule of thumb that investors want out and want their money back wi

It makes perfect sense that they would want to show some kind of saleable momentum. Isn't the rule of thumb that investors want out and want their money back within a certain number of years, and they're not going to lend money to companies they think will take too long to show returns? (I use the term "lend" loosely, btw, since many of the investment term sheets carry terms that make the investment closer to a loan than a string-free donation of funds.) I'm sure the counterpoint is that that's a short-sighted view of industries that have long lead times to even develop a working product (or service, what have you), but it doesn't seem all that surprising.