[krampian]

>> The VCs have fully grown into their role of king-makers, injecting huge sums of cash to end the game for all competitors almost instantly, create a "natural monopoly",

Yes, capital can certainly be a competitive advantage. Another manifestation of that is economies of scale. Most of the companies on the Fortune 500 have and exploit such economies on a daily basis, and I don't see them apologizing...

>> "Call Tom at Google. He owes me a favor. Let him acqui-hire this stinker at $4M per engineer so I don't have to think about it anymore."

Do you actually have evidence that this kind of thing is going on? Could you post it if so? I'm thinking that Larry Page and plenty of other Google shareholders might be interested...

[gargarplex]

Mr. O'Church has neglected, or failed, to include ideas in praise of nepotism. In other words, expect that Google net benefits from access to Tom's network or experienced a favor from the VC previously.

There's even an idea for this in accounting: goodwill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwill_%28accounting%29

[jgalt212]

When Green Dot acqui-hired Loopt, Mike Moritz was on both boards.

[jacquesm]

Did they regret the transaction? Did any of Green Dot's minority shareholders sue Green Dot or mr. Moritz?

[jgalt212]

I was a Green Dot shareholder at the time and I regretted the transaction.

[jacquesm]

So what did you do about it?

[jgalt212]

I complained about it here on HN.

[jacquesm]

That's probably not the most effective venue.

If something like this ever happens again make sure that you make your objections known before the deal goes down, have them register your objection and reason during the shareholder meeting (you won't be able to block the deal from going through) and make it known that if you ever feel that you have been disadvantaged by the deal that you will sue for compensation (and follow through on that if push comes to shove).

As a minority shareholder you have rights, but you will have to stand up for them and push the proper levers at the right time.

Consult a lawyer in your local jurisdiction for the exact detail around the procedure and your options.