I feel about this the same way I feel about interviewing eng, PM, and particularly sales candidates. Before you pull the trigger on investing, hiring, whatever

I feel about this the same way I feel about interviewing eng, PM, and particularly sales candidates. Before you pull the trigger on investing, hiring, whatever, you should meet with candidates at least once in the way they'll be performing the job. If you're hiring a cold calling salesperson, you should not interview them in person — ever. Their performance is going to be determined – on the job — over the phone, so you should interview them over the phone. If you're hiring a remote developer, you should interview them remotely. The inverse is true as well: if you're hiring someone to be in the office every day, interview them in the office. Same goes for investing. How are are you going to be primarily interacting with this team? If you're interacting primarily remotely (e.g., not in the context of a shared-workspace startup incubator), you should feel comfortable interviewing remotely as well. It'll give you a better sense of how your interactions will go in the day-to-day running of the business. The author's view on using in-person meetings as a way to get a 'feel' for a person resonates with me: it sounds appealing, but it introduces an additional opportunity for bias relative to talking on the phone or even over VC.