Avoiding Pneumonia When An Investor Catches A Cold
There is an axiom in the venture industry that investor syndicates provide more stability for a young company, by avoiding a single point of failure. While this is true most of the time, it does not mean that from time to time, an investor within a syndicate may not develop a problem (catch a cold) that could create major challenges for an entrepreneurial company. Today, these “colds” come in the form of sponsoring partner departures (no champion remaining in the partnership) to a shortage of capital reserves for follow-on investing and/or a combination of the two. For the entrepreneur, a single investor failure in a syndicate can quickly become a financing crisis or “pneumonia." In many cases, the remaining investors – facing their own reserve limitations – may not be able to cover the pro-rata capital expected from their under reserved compatriot. And if the sponsoring partner leaves, who will be at the table, when the tough decisions are being made to speak on the entrepreneur’s behalf? If the entrepreneur is not represented in this critical discussion, chances are he/she will end up at the bottom of the allocation priority list.
