Ah. Well, my opinion is that it'd be fairly dangerous to make the assertion that (as great as they both are) Zope and the Zope community can "make up for" the other half of the capital they need to develop the software they want. So what's the decision they're trying to make? Whether to develop at all?
Whether to go with portal products from Plumtree or iPlanet.
I am reading between the lines here. I think that the original poster has an argument inside his company. He wants to use Zope, and some office droid did financial research and concluded that Zope was undercapitalized. I think there are two questions to be posed here: 1) Does Zope, in its current state, do what the poster needs to have done? If so, it is capitalization should have no effect on the decision whatsoever, he has source, even if DC folds Zope will live on in some form. 2) If not, well, what does he need? Has DC been contacted regarding these needs? One worthwhile observation is that DC claims to have been profitable prior to the VC investment. I am not privy to strategy or details of DC's capitalization. But, they do have a track record of profitablity and reasonable prudence. With good management and luck, they will remain profitable, and that is the end need for a business. If they stay profitable, they remain a business; if they never become profitable, it does not matter how they are capitalized, they will not survive. Jim