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George Scheppler, president and CEO of Pine Ridge Winery, LLC, (the "Company") sat in his office overlooking the steep hillside vineyards of the Pine Ridge Winery in Napa Valley. It was June 2005, and he was preparing for the upcoming board of managers meeting where he would discuss the Company's long-range plan with its owner, Leucadia National Corp. Leucadia, a well-respected diversified holding company, had 2004 revenues of $2.3 billion. The Company had 2004 revenues of $13.8 million from its two wineries: Pine Ridge Winery (Pine Ridge) in California and Archery Summit Winery (Archery Summit) in Oregon.

Mike Lawrie, the newly appointed CEO of Siebel Systems, considers a combination of growth and spending cuts to turn around the struggling software company. Focuses on the role of the chief financial officer, Ken Goldman, in corporate governance and compliance under Sarbanes-Oxley; in establishing a financial model for the firm; in operations and leadership; and in investor relations under Regulation FD. Goldman, who had presided over rapid growth at several other technology firms before joining Siebel three years earlier, must adapt to Siebel's new leadership and operating environment.

Four venture capitalists from leading Silicon Valley firms are interviewed about the frameworks they use to evaluate potential venture opportunities. Questions include: How do you evaluate the venture's prospective business model? What due diligence do you conduct? What is the process through which funding decisions are made? What financial analyses do you perform? What role does risk play in your evaluation? and How do you think about a potential exit route? Russell Siegelman, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Sonja Hoel, managing director at Menlo Ventures; Fred Wang, general partner at Trinity Ventures; and Robert Simon, director at Alta Partners, are interviewed.