For finding basic information about a specific subject directories are typically very useful. The two best directories tend to be Yahoo Directories and DMOZ. I didn't find directories particularly useful for researching venture capital topics but did think they would be very useful for investigating whether you should start a business in a particular niche.
Yahoo
As you can see the sites about venture capital on Yahoo were burried behind category after category. This is definitely a pain to wade through all the different categories.
DMOZ
With DMOZ it was much the opposite the categories were still concise but they took much less digging, here are some DMOZ categories I found most useful for entrepreneurship.
Resources for start ups
- http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Small_Business/Start_Up/
- http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Small_Business/Start_Up/Entrepreneurship/
VC Companies
Conclusion
DMOZ much easier to find relevant directory entries than Yahoo. The Yahoo entries relating to my topic were buried far underneath loads and loads of subdirectories while the DMOZ were only a couple levels deep and all very relevant. In the end though, directories seem to work better for me in a research or scientific sense than a business sense. Directories are worth checking out to do background research on a business idea and also for a broad sense of entrepreneurial topics.
Grade
I'll give directories a B-, but I wish we would have looked at them earlier in the term. They are limited once you have already done the major leg work.