the analysts at the time that would have followed the company, guy named dan benton.e poured over the financials and the product and he made the judgment that the company while having short-term momentum would not have any staying power. i was aghast. i stood to bring a big six figure ticket. young guy, this is it. simply wouldn't budge reminding me that this was goldman sachs, not some slough firm that would put its name on any company that was hot. goldman passed. within a couple of years the company failed, a victim of better technology. take it from me, that's why the brokerage pedigree matters. i would pass on deals done by firms that you've never heard of or have little or no track record. doesn't mean every ipo brute by a high quality firm like goldman will be a success, far from it, but it does help you weed out many failures. here's the bottom line. only after i've gone through that three step vetting process which you can learn more about in "getting back to even" would i consider what they do, what it makes, in part because it is so difficult to judge these