4.0
3.7 
2.8 
2.8 
3.4 CEO/Founder, Thrown Out One Bod Meeting After Closing Intel B Round
Fund: Intel Capital
Posted by Anonymous on 2010-11-02
Be warned fellow founders. Eghosa Omoigui of Intel Capital lead the B round in my company, where I was founder/CEO
One board meeting after Intel's funding, in a surprise ambush meeting, Eghosa pushed a Chairman/CEO resignation letter across the table and told me to sign it, or, he had my board assembled across the hall ready to fire me immediately. He made everyone big promises, verbal promises
i lost my whole company, which i spent 4.5y on, except a sliver of ownership of common
he wouldn't agree to my ongoing equity terms before closing the round, he waited and waited until we missed paychecks, then, promised it would be officially assigned immediately after closing, and i trusted him. old trick, turns out
instead, he tossed me out, counter to months of verbal promises. said "we need a more experienced ceo". all the people i worked with for four years, some my closest friends, i couldn't see them anymore, in a moment. i never was able to return to my office again. emotional devastation for an entrepreneur
now i am suing my own company, 2 lawsuits, which is a disaster for both parties
Eghosa, to respond to my lawsuits and discredit me, quickly hired an auditor to comb through four years of my expense reports, and write a report about how i had mis-spent shareholder money - then informed shareholders that is why i resigned, implying some criminal wrongdoing at my own company, where my family are investors, and my oldest and best friends from the seed round
do not forget that eghosa is a lawyer, he will play you to the letter of the law with a smile on his face. be sure to google "nigerian negotiating tactics" in dealing with him
on our B round closing docs, he put in certain rights that were designed to be called far in the future upon certain conditions, but, then at the last minute before closing sigs he turned up with those documents and wanted them executed immediately, as a closing condition - totally unethical, but we had no choice at that point
he rarely writes important things in email, to avoid liability later. he sends these messages over sms, or verbally. consider recording meetings with him, or, get it on paper. if he won't, it's bullshit. because he won't later honor anything he said that you can't prove legally
do not ever forget that point in dealing with him, he lied to my face, over and over, with a big smile, to such an extent that i never believed it could be possible, hence why i believed it must be true
he gets a board seat at your company, but, stays as an observer, so that he's "not legally liable as a board member" and just jumps on if he has to, for a critical vote. won't take liability for his actions, but loves running the show
further, if i had even run a simple background check on Eghosa, i would have seen that he has several lawsuits pending in other states, where he owes money, and had his house recently foreclosed... had i seen this before i would have run. it is pathetic that you would have to run a background check on your VC, at the largest VC company in the world, Intel Capital
I really should have taken the smaller Sequoia offer. People are everything. I ignored it for deal terms, which Eghosa ended up screwing me on in last minute nego anyway. Big mistake. Big.
Don't let this be you.
PRIVATE: Members Only