I bumped into an old friend at the Cutter Summit last month whom I hadn't seen for several years. He told me he was now a member of the nefarious three-time losers club as a CIO. When I asked what had happened, he described a consistent story of joining fast-growing, venture-capital-funded, small- to medium-sized firms, and having a wild ride for a couple of years. Inevitably, entrepreneurs in the firm would give way to professional management, and soon thereafter, so would he (my words, not his).