#xenapto

Ravikant describes the syndicates as, "Micro-VCs with no fees, no lockup, and the leads having real skin in the game." In other words, it lets tech honchos fund companies without going through the hassle of setting up a firm and spending months, or longer, courting universities, pension funds, and other custodians of the vast money pools that back venture capitalists.

This means the common stockholder, whose interests the board member is supposed to protect, gets the short end of the stick. Not only does this situation make no sense, it flies in the face of well-established corporate law. No one wins — except the activists, who take their money and move on to the next playground.

One that got away… The largest source of private company information in the UK and Ireland, DueDil has really changed the business information sector by enabling anyone to access up-to-date information on all companies and directors – a service which was previously tortuous and expensive.

When you're raising capital you need to talk to potential investors to tell them about your company and what you're offering to investors. This can be a major undertaking; investors will want to know a lot of information before they'll write you a check. If you've got 20, 50 or 250 potential investors to talk to then managing your time is going to be a real challenge.