<Li> Mark Coggins' novel Vulture Capital (2002) features a venture capitalist protagonist who investigates the disappearance of the chief scientist in a biotech firm in which he has invested . Coggins also worked in the industry and was co-founder of a dot - com startup . </Li> <Li> Drawing on his experience as reporter covering technology for the New York Times, Matt Richtel produced the novel Hooked (2007), in which the actions of the main character's deceased girlfriend, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, play a key role in the plot . </Li> <Li> Great, detailed work on VC method of funding . </Li> <Ul> <Li> In the Dilbert comic strip, a character named "Vijay, the World's Most Desperate Venture Capitalist" frequently makes appearances, offering bags of cash to anyone with even a hint of potential . In one strip, he offers two small children with good math grades money based on the fact that if they marry and produce an engineer baby he can invest in the infant's first idea . The children respond that they are already looking for mezzanine funding . </Li> <Li> Robert von Goeben and Kathryn Siegler produced a comic strip called The VC between the years 1997 and 2000 that parodied the industry, often by showing humorous exchanges between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs . Von Goeben was a partner in Redleaf Venture Management when he began writing the strip . </Li> </Ul>

What is the function of venture capital in the united states