• 1,500 transactions
• $12 million reimbursed to customers
• Average refund is $10,000
• 2007 revenues of $5 million

Hold on a second: If the average refund is $10,000, and the company's done 1,500 transactions, wouldn't that add up to $15 million, not $12 million, reimbursed to customers? And shouldn't the company's total revenues include the full commission, with the rebates listed below the top line as an operating expense? Even if the company nets out rebates before totaling its revenues, something doesn't add up here. Which is what I've always thought about Redfin's business model. Such a glossy website — "freakishly deep" — catering to a mere 1,500 customers?

DFJ's Melton is clearly no dummy; Stanford's not in the habit of issuing degrees to the like. But she joins an investing team filled with other back-benchers. Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen and Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz have also put money into Redfin, but Allen and Schultz tapped underlings to serve on Redfin's board. If Draper, Jurvetson, Allen, and Schultz really intend Redfin to upend the real-estate industry, why aren't they backing it personally? Clearly, Redfin isn't a star of their portfolios, or an idea that really captures these Internet dreamers' imaginations. They're aiming for a base hit at best — which is why they bunted when it came to picking their board representatives.