Similar story. My company was one of the handful of cos that could go public in the end of the dotcom IPO window bc we had $170m in bookings. Accel went on a jihad to replace me as CEO bc i was 32 and had never run a public co. They literally couldnt find a single reason other than my lack of age and experience and i had the junior partner who needed to prove he had the mojo to change out one of ‘his’ ceo’s. I regret that i eventually caved since it led to such a lower $$ outcome with the grey haired HP ceo who had no ability to navigate the multiple reinventions needed. Thats why my advice to founders is 1) keep control at all costs and 2) take passive investors (like yuri milner/dst) over the VC builders who ultimately want to put their own stamp on your co.

Love hearing @travisk call out loud what we all know. VC’s dont make or build companies but many can kill them. I used to tell investors I kept control to protect them from themselves. So many founders play the game and pretend their VC and its brand makes a difference. Can anyone remember who backed Meta or Google or Apple? Who cares! Do you think Steve Jobs needed a VC to help him build or market the Iphone?