Tech grows big & fast, and a lot of today's problems can be traced to VC-backed boards noping out of ethical responsibilities.
Startup board members are generally (rightfully) worried about growth or survival, until that's on rails and by then it's too late to fix the monster they've grown.
Today's trends of founder friendliness, wide participation, and big checks makes these trade-offs even more extreme. Startups are so messy that the industry hasn't figured out how to juggle it all yet, or even if the relevant stakeholders even want it to.
I would agree that I am mixed about it. It's not binary but it does seem to be difficult to build a board around a hypothetical fantastic growth trajectory.
That said I don't think it's the boards sole responsibility on ethical choices - that's the management team and rolling up to the board.
It feels a bit how HR is complicit in the company outcome and is a fraught position. The board of directors is the same. Maybe the rest of the world has thought about the board of directors in the wrong way in that they have assumed that they represent an ethical, independent thinking group of people with different incentives then how boards are actually set up.
Not using this as a scape goat of responsibilities but more observing how things seem to be in the real world.
Tech grows big & fast, and a lot of today's problems can be traced to VC-backed boards noping out of ethical responsibilities.
Startup board members are generally (rightfully) worried about growth or survival, until that's on rails and by then it's too late to fix the monster they've grown.
Today's trends of founder friendliness, wide participation, and big checks makes these trade-offs even more extreme. Startups are so messy that the industry hasn't figured out how to juggle it all yet, or even if the relevant stakeholders even want it to.