Recent news serves as a reminder that operators in startups and venture capital should work to ensure their investors are not bad actors
I got an email from the CEO of one of our portfolio companies last week. — It asked a very basic question, but one that I don't recall being asked before: Tweets: @gaberivera , @bznotes , @austinfish , @saraashleyo , @evanwolf , @avyfain , @aliasaria , @bobbierman , @nitashatiku , @mdudas , @anildash , @semil , and @semil Tweets: Gabe Rivera / @gaberivera : @Techmeme Also, a reminder that when you find yourself photographed with bad actors, try not to smile as hard as these guys. http://twitter.com/... Bilal Zuberi / @bznotes : Who are we as people? What values do we hold dear? Who do we choose to do business with? These are importabt questions. And I hope more people will find greater transparency around this to be a good thing. http://avc.com/... Julia Austin / @austinfish : VCs, can you answer this confidently? Would your portfolio companies be comfortable telling their employees who your LPs are? “Who are our investors and can we be proud of them? And do we want to work for them?” http://avc.com/... Sara Ashley O'brien / @saraashleyo : “It is time for all of us in the startup and VC sector to do a deep dive on our investor base and ask the question that the CEO asked me. Who are our investors and can we be proud of them?” @fredwilson https://avc.com/... @evanwolf : Even with a first level of #disclosure, #VC funds should watch for “washing” of contributions through apparently clean intermediaries. So this is a supply chain problem, the same #darkmoney challenge affecting campaign finance #transparency. https://avc.com/... Avy Faingezicht / @avyfain : The past couple of weeks have shown that in some ways the US Dollar is not as fungible as your econ 101 class had made you believe. Here's @fredwilson, for example: https://avc.com/... Ali Asaria / @aliasaria : CEOs are beginning to ask VCs who their LPs are. https://avc.com/... Bob Bierman / @bobbierman : .@fredwilson on your funding's provenance ... ps, he admits that while he's proud of his current LPs, over time there have been a few he was less proud of. https://avc.com/... Nitasha Tiku / @nitashatiku : “It asked a very basic question, but one that I don't recall being asked before” http://avc.com/... Mike Dudas / @mdudas : “Not all money is the same. The people that come with it and who are behind it matter. That has always been the case and remains the case and we are reminded of it from time to time. Like right now.” ~ @fredwilson http://avc.com/... Anil Dash / @anildash : Really glad to see @fredwilson say this. It matters who profits from our work. Founders, CEOs: it's incumbent upon us to push on this, and take accountability. http://avc.com/... @semil : @fredwilson 2/ The majority of LPAs (limited partner agreements that investment managers sign w/ their LPs) prohibit the GPs from publicly disclosing what LPs are on the fund's cap table; gets more opaque with Fund of Fund (FoF) structures. @semil : Been reflecting on this complicated issue over the past few weeks. @fredwilson notes in today's post that it could be a turning point in “limited partner” relationships in investment funds receiving more & more attention: http://avc.com/...