The Founders' Dilemma: How Not to Be Kicked Out by Your Investors

Astra Global and The Startup Station presented the webinar “The Founders' Dilemma: How to ensure you will not be kicked out by your investors”.

According to Harvard Business Review, out of 212 American startups founded between the late 1990s and early 2000s, within three years 50% of the founders were no longer the CEO; in year four, 40%; and fewer than 25% led their companies' initial public offerings. Generally, four out of five entrepreneurs are forced to step down from the CEO's post.

The webinar covered specific strategies founders can use to retain control while keeping a good relationship with investors:

• When do you need to start fundraising, and from whom?
• How to fund yourself in the beginning, and how much money you need to start a company.
• The VC's incentives and interests: why and when they start pushing hard, and what tactics give you leverage.
• The truth about valuation: a negotiating tool, a financial fact, or a wild guess?
• Which terms matter for retaining control, and which could be a dealbreaker.
• Key strategies for creating and managing a board of directors.
• Top five reasons you may lose control of your company.
• What to do if your position as a founder is threatened.

Agenda

• 17:00–17:30 CET — Opening remarks, Astra Global and The Startup Station.
• 17:30–17:50 CET — Strategies to retain control while maintaining a good relationship with investors.
• 17:50–18:00 CET — Q&A.