Ask YC: A VC as President?

5 pointsneeson18y ago4 comments

I work for a startup a year old, with about 10 people in it and a round A of 1M. What's happened in the last of month is that the VC's have put one of their own guys in as president (not someone that they chose - one of the actual VC's: formerly a stock-broker with no previous experience running a company), who is now starting to dictate schedules and parts of the technical direction.

My question is: this is unusual, right? I understand that it's common to put in a CEO at a later round, but having the fund-raisers in the presidential role while we are still in heavy development seems very out of the ordinary...

Has anyone else experienced this? And if so, was it a portent of doom?

4 comments

4 comments · 4 top-level

neesonOP18y ago

Spent today looking into this. I think, ultimately, the problem is how the founder set things up. The board consists of the founder, the head VC, and two people who are employed by the head VC.

To me, this is three wolves and a sheep deciding on what's for dinner. My feeling is that the appointment of the president (my initial concern) is simply the natural outcome of the overall power structure - and likely just the tip of the iceberg.

I appreciate your feedback (in particular, thank you Dennis for the excellent link). I'll let YC know how this all pans out...

dennykmiu18y ago

Can I offer you my experience with VC?

I am sure that there are some high quality VC's out there but the problem is that there is no quality control in that industry. Just use my observations as a guide but you will be surprise how well it fits their behaviors.

http://www.lovemytool.com/blog/2007/10/vc-worst-enemy.html

thorax18y ago

Well, the founders at least can't be blamed by the VCs if the company implodes.

Please come back and update is on the story if you stick with it there. Might help some of us later.

darklighter318y ago

Yes and yes. If you are an employee I'd start working on that resume. If you are a founder - sorry.