Venture capitalists don't do that. They realize that the operating rules of new markets are totally distinct. You need to have much faster integration of strategy. You need to suspend some of the principles of good business in established industries, such as embracing competition as one of your best allies in generating initial customer demand.

They need to be realistic about how to assess and measure new-market opportunities. Asking for an NPV on a market that doesn't exist is going to generate a work of fiction.

A venture capitalist is never going to go through that exercise because he knows it's foolhardy. Instead, what you can ask for a reasonable degree of precision on is the expenses as well as the key risks and associated milestones that will reduce the risk in a new venture. You can also insist on a portfolio strategy. Most big companies tend to cluster their new-market adjustments very close to the core, so that they're really line extensions and not really new-market explorations. Then, to compensate for that risk-averse strategy, they'll try a couple of swing-for-the-fences home-run attempts that usually don't work out.

Now, a personal investment portfolio would never look like that, and a corporate investment portfolio shouldn't either. It's the CFO's job to ensure that the forces of corporate politics don't lead to an irrational investment portfolio for new markets.