I always thought stuff like this happened to OTHER founders, but would never happen to me. But my board fired me six months after closing our series A.
The advice in this article is 100% spot on. I didn't know any of this. I was totally focused on building my company. But if you raise money you can't do that anymore. 50% of your time will always be occupied with working on your next round of funding or managing your board of directors.
I noticed super early that VCs were not "helpful" at all like they had claimed during the fundraising process.
So I got fired, and I thought, "well, at least I still have my founders stock!"
Then a year after I got fired the series A investor led the next round of funding and decided to value the company at $0, so I got diluted by 99.99%. Sounds illegal, right? Well, it probably was, but what am I going to do about it? They have billions of dollars and I had no money.
I just let it go and started something new - bootstrapping of course. On the bright side, the new CEO ran the company into the ground. Meanwhile my new company is doing well and I love my job.
Anyway, do what this guy says to manage your board and just plan on being fired at some point if you raise VC money.
The advice in this article is 100% spot on. I didn't know any of this. I was totally focused on building my company. But if you raise money you can't do that anymore. 50% of your time will always be occupied with working on your next round of funding or managing your board of directors.
I noticed super early that VCs were not "helpful" at all like they had claimed during the fundraising process.
So I got fired, and I thought, "well, at least I still have my founders stock!"
Then a year after I got fired the series A investor led the next round of funding and decided to value the company at $0, so I got diluted by 99.99%. Sounds illegal, right? Well, it probably was, but what am I going to do about it? They have billions of dollars and I had no money.
I just let it go and started something new - bootstrapping of course. On the bright side, the new CEO ran the company into the ground. Meanwhile my new company is doing well and I love my job.
Anyway, do what this guy says to manage your board and just plan on being fired at some point if you raise VC money.