Every founder of a growth startup dreams of a big, successful exit — a sale of the company for millions of dollars. But that dream could be shattered if the investors are able to cause the company to be sold prematurely with proceeds only equal to or barely exceeding the investors’ liquidation preferences, leaving little
venture
How Corporate Venture Capital Differs

By Alon Y. Kapen on
Earlier this year, Union Square Ventures Managing Partner Fred Wilson famously referred to corporate VCs as “The Devil”, when he asserted that companies should not be investing in other companies, that they should be buying other companies but not taking minority positions in them, that the “access” rationale for corporate venture is a reason…
Are VCs incentivized to lose money?

By Alon Y. Kapen on
Are VCs incentivized to lose money? This is the provocative assertion made recently (and again) by Kaufman Foundation Senior Fellow Diane Mulcahy in the Harvard Business Review. Some of us who are interested in this issue probably recall the equally incendiary piece she co-authored in 2012 for KF boldly entitled “We Have …