Private Equity's Competitive Landscape
I spend an unhealthy amount of time with venture capitalists, which means that I’m regularly badgered about creating or joining a startup. During last week’s TechStars event in Boston, for example, it came up in three separate conversations. I’ve got a variety of explanations (excuses?), but none of them involve a lack of consideration. In fact, peHUB was originally conceived as an independent venture. Even had a prominent journalistic partner, and productive conversations with investors. What killed that effort, however, was a noncompete agreement that I (unwittingly) signed when Old Daddy Thomson listed in New York. Its enforceability was questionable, but it wasn’t a battle that I could afford to win, let alone lose. All of this is preamble to establish my bias against noncompete agreements. They often do little more than cause massive headaches while delaying the inevitable (no boss, that’s not preamble). And, regrettably, they are playing a larger and larger role in private equity.
