The idea behind a virtual company is to put relatively little money to work in a new enterprise, get a program to a go/no go decision point, and then sell it for a big mark-up (if the data looks good) to a more completely infrastructured company. Hillman Ventures has been the main proponent of this strategy but their first "liquidation event" shows that the jury is still out on the strategy's success.

Hillman Medical Ventures still likes the idea of virtual start-ups, despite their drop in popularity. They've recently created three.