Chapter 11Venture CapitalFor Profit or Cause
The motivation for profit has always driven human enterprise. In ancient times, kings and wealthy merchants invested in innovations to promote artwork, textile design, embroidery, performing arts, handicrafts and cuisine. Excavations from the Liangzhu culture site, at Qianshanyang, Zhejiang Province, China, show that at around 3,000 BCE, Lady Hsi-Ling-Shih, the wife of the Yellow Emperor who is credited with introducing sericulture and inventing the loom on which silk is woven, employed hundreds of skilled artisans at her court.
In the sixteenth century, Michelangelo the sculptor, Nicola Salvi the architect, Giovanni the painter and many others combined their skills ...
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