FinTech news in Bill Gurley category

The three-year-old company has been dealing with shrinking market share and layoffs, yet according to a Financial Times piece from earlier this year, its founder was able to take $195 million worth of shares off the table while also retaining nearly 40% of the company and voting control. In a story just tonight about Pipe, journalist’s Mary Ann Azevedo writes that the three-year-old marketplace has only one outside board member who is not a cofounder of the company, and that individual has been a VC for three years. And, Gurley pegs secondary sale transactions (red flag #8) as an obvious danger. Another issue is dual-class shares (red flag #3), which in many cases give entrepreneurs the power to ignore the wishes of investors.