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When Joe Valentine shook hands with founder David Wheeler and agreed to sign on as Infoglide Software Corp.'s CEO in December 1997, he says he took the helm of a company drifting toward bankruptcy.
With a crew of five employees, no strong sales leads and pressure from anxious investors, Valentine put to use his 20 years of marketing and management experience.
Less than a year later, Infoglide's biggest challenge wasn't finding investors. Rather, it was deciding which ones to work with.
The developer of Web-based search engine technology initially wanted $6 million in funding for its first big round. It received offers for more than $87 million from venture capitalists in 10 states.
Wary of giving too much ownership or control away, Infoglide finally settled on $13 million from New York-based Marsh & McLennan Co., Hartford, Conn.-based Conning & Co. and Austin's Sanchez Venture Capital Partners in September 1998.
Infoglide's reluctance to take more money was based on the company's desire to keep as much ownership as possible in the hands of its employees. By mid-2000,...