Judging from our post room delivery every morning, it would be easy to ignore the turmoil over recent weeks in the equity markets as the venture capitalist world continues to boom. In early 1998 Elderstreet, which specialises in venture capitalist funding for software, internet and computer services companies, received on average 30 business plans per month.

By mid-1999 we were receiving around 200 and today we're receiving even more - approximately 300 per month. Filtering this volume of potential deals is an enormous task and in such a crowded market picking the winners can be extremely challenging.