An entrepreneur recently wrote to me wondering how to deal with a situation that had arisen just after funding had been raised. The entrepreneur had raised money from a group of investors after multiple rounds of discussions and based on a business plan with specific milestones. Apparently, in the first board meeting after the fund raise, some of the investors wanted changes to the strategy and goals of the company. Other investors were generally neutral. The entrepreneur who still believed in the plan agreed to was naturally confused.
Investor-entrepreneur relationships are of course paramount to the successful building of a startup. A journey that starts off, ostensibly almost, as an adversarial one during the fund raising process what with the questions, arguments, skepticism and diligence becomes, well at least should, a shared one post funding. Both the investor and the entrepreneur stand to gain – financially and credibility wise – only if the startup succeeds. It is hard for one to win at the cost of the other in most cases – though there have been exceptions to this rule. It is unhealthy therefore to let the adversarial momentum carry forward post funding.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Exploring Entrepreneur Investor Relationship : [“I told you so” moments]
