Just to clarify:<p>If you look at the statements for a VC fund, you&#x27;ll see at most 2-3 winners that provide huge returns, and another 42 zombies (returned between 0x and 3x), which have little impact on the fund overall.<p>That&#x27;s 42 tedious board seats, and 3 enjoyable board seats.<p>Ask a VC, they&#x27;ll say the problem is that limited investors tend to call portfolio CEOs at random, and ask for a reference. That&#x27;s pretty much the only reason that they need to pay attention to the zombie companies. And that&#x27;s why a company that shuts down is better than a zombie that just keeps living without growth. One less board seat to deal with. One less set of arguing founders. One less VP they need to help recruit.