In judging whether to fund an entrepreneur, venture capitalists rely on more than just the gut feeling they’re famous for. In his book The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, writer and surgeon Atul Gawande writes:
“But finding a good idea is apparently not all that hard. Finding an entrepreneur who can execute a good idea is a different matter entirely. One needs a person who can take an idea from proposal to reality, work the long hours, build a team, handle the pressures and setbacks, manage technical and people problems alike, and stick with the effort for years on end without getting distracted or going insane. Such people are rare and extremely hard to spot.”