VC Decries Airbnb’s Recent Funding for Founder Control and Cashout
I must have missed the post where a VC said "Guys, sorry, love your company but I couldn't in good conscience participate in a round where the rich people get paid and the poor people are told to wait for an exit."  I must have missed that post quite frequently, because that describes <i>every VC round ever</i>.<p>A $120 million investment round means that about $2.4 million in cash money just moved from the limited partners (universities, pension funds, wealthy families) into the pockets of the VC firm's partners.  Not stock, not options: cash money.  This is the way the system has always worked, since time immemorial.  VCs get paid a management fee (about 2%) win or lose, and a percentage of the profits when they win.<p>Just something to keep in mind when someone mentions their strong principles in the course of a discussion over how dang expensive butter is these days.<p>[Edit to add: My description of management fees is slightly simplified and ignores salient things like the fact that they recur annually.]