Questions:
1. How do venture capital boards differ in composition from the boards of companies that have been bought out?
2. Why would a board have special voting rights? How do these address some of the basic tenets of private equity?
3. From the venture capitalist's viewpoint, what are three reasons for staged financing?
4. Why is consensus building such an important part of a board member's work?
5. Why would limited partners countenance their GPs putting more money into a struggling company? How does that differ from a bank's response to a company's difficulties? How does that help explain the differences between the sorts of companies that take VC investment as opposed to those that take bank debt?
6. Exits are ultimately how private equity firms realize returns on their investments. Describe the various ways for a private equity firm to exit an investment.
7. What are some of the key considerations in determining whether to take a company public?
8. What are some of the characteristics of a private company that may increase the likelihood of an IPO?
9. What are some of the characteristics of a private company that may prevent it from going public?
10. What are some of the key advantages of being a public company? What are the disadvantages?
11. Explain the phenomenon of underpricing as it relates to IPOs
12. What purpose does corporate VC serve? What are the potential advantages?
13. What are some of the key issues with distributing stock directly to LPs in conjunction with an IPO? What would LPs prefer?