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by michaelochurch 4068 days ago
They don't sell them in an explicit jobs-for-cash trade, so much as they use them to curry favor with counter parties. It's about information and favorable future action (e.g. I'll make your kid VP/Eng if you agree to make your employer buy us at $2B no matter what.)
2 comments
tptacek 4068 days ago
"I'll make your kid VP/Engineering if you agree to make your employer buy as at $2B" does not sound like something that has ever happened. Has it?
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michaelochurch 4067 days ago
I don't know that it's ever been put so explicitly, but I have seen startups and ex-startups give out very highly compensated positions (over $300k) to people who were spouses, proteges, and children of people on purchasing boards at other companies.

Usually the explicit quid pro quo isn't needed because self-interest is enough to keep the parties in step. In that example, once the kid is given the job, the guy on the purchasing board has an obvious desire to buy at as high a price as possible, since it's not his money.

These are the sorts of issues that would be considered conflicts of interest, and require the decision-makers to recuse themselves, anywhere but Silicon Valley.

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tptacek 4067 days ago
Can you clarify this by citing a specific example where a board member or executive of a privately-held company recused themselves from a recruiting decision because of a conflict of interest concern?

Could you describe more fully a case where a nepotistic hire was made at a company you have first- or second-hand knowledge of where the impetus for that hire was an outside investor? I have for-sure seen crappy and nepotistic hires at startups. That's a banal observation. What I haven't seen is quid-pro-quo.

Further: your claim wasn't simply that there are nepotistic hires (again, of course there are; banal claim) --- it's that the quid-pro-quo for those hires was commitments to subsequent mergers/acquisitions activities. That is an extraordinary claim and one I think you're unlikely to be able to back up, but, I mean, prove me wrong.

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SamReidHughes 4067 days ago
> I don't know that it's ever been put so explicitly, but I have seen startups and ex-startups give out very highly compensated positions (over $300k) to people who were spouses, proteges, and children of people on purchasing boards at other companies.

But I thought it was VC's that were funneling money and prestige to their children.

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SamReidHughes 4068 days ago
What are some examples of this? Or more generally, why do you believe this happens?
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