Hypothetically speaking, a startup gets some rounds of investment from VCs, operates for a few years, and run out of runway. What do these final months look like? Do the investors try to get their money back?
Hypothetically speaking, a startup gets some rounds of investment from VCs, operates for a few years, and run out of runway. What do these final months look like? Do the investors try to get their money back?
The one I was at just gathered everyone together to let them know layoffs were coming. I was also part of the tech support for the office so I stayed a bit longer to help them wind down systems, wipe hard drives, that sort of thing. The owners were pretty nice/upfront about the whole thing, basically gave everyone something like 2-3 month’s pay upfront & told everyone the business is winding down.
The owners did try to find a buyer for the tech & maybe break even or recoup some losses but that didn’t pan out. AFAIK the investors just took it as a loss, it’s a startup and sometimes startups fail.
We weren’t in fancy offices or anything like you see in movies & whatnot, it was more like working in an industrial warehouse converted for office use. Like the kind of building that doesn’t provide hot water unless you install water heaters yourself, no central AC, that sort of thing. We had one final party & trashed the space on the way out LOL. I think they just walked away from the lease, it’s not like there was any $$ coming in to pay it anymore.
In the last few months after moving out a few remaining people (the owners, tech support, etc.) worked from within the investment group’s own offices (they gave us a spare room to work in). Mostly to deal with the old systems/hard drives & prep the existing data in case the owners found a buyer.