When the Well Runs Dry This Texas entrepreneur dug deep to replace VC funds he lost unexpectedly.

What's an entrepreneur to do when investors back out in themiddle of an $80 million-plus construction project? Jack Gray, 48,knows the answer from firsthand experience. Gray's Austin,Texas, company, Gigared, was building a 1,100-kilometer-longtelecommunications network in Argentina when his American VCinvestors abruptly backed out in September 2001--still $6 millionshy of completing their investment.

Gray scrambled to renegotiate terms with vendors and debtors,invested more of his own money, and looked for new VC investors. Byoffering a greatly reduced stock price, Gray received enough in newinvestments to complete the build-out. With 2005 revenue expectedto top $5 million, Gigared is once again in the black.

Says Gray, "When you get burned that badly, you want tohave someone you know you can trust. That's a huge component ofpicking a VC partner."