Q. Can I pick and choose which Seismic investments I want to be a part of?

A. When you’re an investor in Seismic, you’re an investor in every company in the portfolio. We choose our companies for a reason, and for balance across the portfolio. Most of our investors don’t have the bandwidth to underwrite every company in our portfolio, so it would be difficult for them to know which ones are going to turn out and which ones won’t.

Q. What happens if one of the companies in the portfolio doesn’t make it?

A. We’ll do the best we can to recoup any money we have invested. Sometimes we have to take a write-off, but since we are structured as a holding company, the liabilities of the companies in our portfolio generally don’t travel upstream to the parent. The larger portfolio should be insulated against an individual failure. Our goal is to generate significant returns from as many of the companies in the portfolio as possible, and if we get it right, the plusses should far outweigh the minuses.

Q. I work at a company that would be perfect for Seismic. Who do I talk to?

A. You’d talk to Seismic President Eric White, who you can email at ebw@seismic.company. We’ll be the judge of whether the company is good for Seismic — even if it seems perfect from the outside, there are lots of hurdles to clear. We need to like the industry, the people, the business plan, the competitive landscape, and need to know what our exit is going to look like.