My status of being the only Home Office-funded learning disability ISVA in the UK is a sad testament to that fact.
So what could an English innovation fund learn from these experiences?
Investment decisions go wrong and firms blow up – a lesson that numerous funds learned during the financial crisis.
Clearly, investors in the Willow Fund learned the hard way that a fund's directors cannot be relied upon to protect investors from a manager's risky bets.
No matter the locale, serious buyers must be prepared to move fast, as Ed Mufson, who helps small and middle-size companies raise funds, learned recently.
The New Art Gallery, which opened in 2000 with £16.5m in National Lottery funding, learned on Wednesday that its local authority funding could be reduced by 25% each year for the next four years.
I would argue that the young students of TNS (many of whom donated their own savings to the library fund) learned a powerful lesson this year, but I'm not sure it's one most parents would actively seek for their children.
Accredited investors can then browse these funds, learn about their partners and investment strategies, and choose to become LPs.
For example, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that, in a December 2009 meeting with key lawmakers, a small group of hedge funds learned -- hours before it was announced -- that Senate Democrats had eliminated a proposed government-run insurance plan from the health-care reform bill.
"The United Nations Children's Fund learned with great dismay and regret that a further six children have been killed during a Coalition military operation in Gardez on Friday last.
