Michael Lazerow

And near the top of that list is you never back a husband and wife team.

Cass and Mike Lazerow heard that rule at every big fund on Sand Hill Road.

Then they went and built two companies together, sold the second one, Buddy Media, to Salesforce for $745 million, and turned around to back more than 100 founders on their own.

Before any of that, they nearly lost everything.