What would you pay for a top VC?

Infectious Greed: Paying for Top Venture Capitalists points to an study showing entrepreneurs are willing to take a 10-14% discount on their equity to get a name brand VC. I know from personal experience that this is the case. But one should look for more than a name. When I was raising money for Loudeye, alot of name brand VCs came calling. In the end, I took the ones I liked working with best and who I believed would actually work.

I recently posted How to Shop for Venture Capital over at NWVentureVoice. The key to remember is that this venture thing is a long term business relationship. Price is not the only factor to measure. Value is the ultimate goal. Entrepreneurs who only optimize for price are not optimizing for their business. As a VC, that tells me something about how they will operate if I invest. Something very telling.