Ask a question to a venture investor

Colleagues, I had the opportunity to interview tomorrow with the director of business development of the venture company Fast Lane Ventures . Interviews specifically for the company's blog on Habrahabr, the last posts in which were met by the community, to put it mildly, not very friendly - although we previously did together such a project as a startup lynch from an investor . I invited them to give an interview in which they would answer all the burning questions that they ask in Habré. And I hope you support me in this endeavor. Of course, there may be questions not only about their activities, but also about the venture capital market, start-ups, management and finance in general.

For reference:

Fast Lane Ventures is a Russian company with Western capital, created to develop, launch and promote new Internet businesses. Unlike traditional venture capital funds, Fast Lane Ventures not only invests its own funds in the implementation of promising ideas, but also organizes the process of creating new Internet businesses, acting as an investment and operational partner at the same time.

In general, offer your questions, plus your favorite options - I will try to ask everything. Under the cut, I sketched a list of several topics that I prepared for discussion:

1. The launch of your last project - Pinme.ru - caused a certain stir in the Internet audience due to the fact that it even externally is almost an exact copy of pinterest.com. How do you handle legal issues with “originals”? Do you buy from them the rights to the idea and design?
2. If the idea of ​​an original “pioneering” startup is born in Fast Lane Ventures, will it have a chance to be realized in FLV or are your principles unshakable?
3. What interesting projects for adaptation do we see in the West now?
4. List the main trends of the coming 2012 in Russia and in the world, as you see them.
5. What is the fundamental difference between the Russian business mentality and the American or, for example, European one? What are our strengths, weaknesses?
6. It is often said that the laws in Russia are imperfect, the laws on doing business - especially. Are there any problem areas in the venture business, something that interferes with work and would be worth changing? What are the positive aspects in our legislation?

If you have more ideas, criticism of this list and suggestions - welcome.