By defending the pro rata rights of early backers against new, powerful investors, founders play an "infinite game." This builds a reputation for fairness that compounds over time, attracting higher-quality partners and investors in future rounds.

To vet potential investors or acquirers, founders should ask them to articulate their vision for the startup's next five years. Hearing their story told through the buyer's eyes reveals the depth of their strategic thinking and helps assess whether their vision aligns with the founder's, ensuring a better post-transaction fit.

When owned by multiple private equity firms with varying exit horizons, IFS mitigates conflicting priorities by ensuring acquisition targets, even strategic ones, have a robust business plan to achieve profitability within 18 months to two years.

In a distressed scenario, simply asserting seniority as a junior capital provider is ineffective. You cannot force the majority owner and management team, whom you've just told are worthless, to run the business for your benefit. The only viable path is to renegotiate and realign incentives for all parties to work towards a recovery together.

For a rising media company, securing an investment from an industry titan like former CNN CEO Jeff Zucker was a strategic move for market credibility. This validation signaled to partners and competitors that Front Office Sports was a legitimate player, accelerating their path to the top tier of the industry.

Rockefeller used his company's stock as a strategic weapon beyond just fundraising. He granted cheap shares to influential bankers to secure favorable loan terms for himself while simultaneously blocking competitors' access to capital, transforming his cap table into a tool for building a network of secret, financially-aligned allies.

Over 80% of TA's investments are proprietary deals with founders who aren't actively selling. Their strategy focuses on convincing profitable, growing businesses to partner to accelerate growth, framing the decision as "partner with us" versus "do nothing." This requires a long-term, relationship-based sourcing model.

When Kevin attempted to buy the company he built, his partner inflated the valuation. The partner knew Kevin was emotionally invested and understood the business's true potential, using that knowledge as leverage to demand an overpayment, a common tactic in internal buyouts.

Seed funds can win deals against multistage giants by highlighting the inherent conflict of interest. A seed-only investor is fully aligned with the founder to maximize the Series A valuation, whereas a multistage investor may want a lower price for their own follow-on investment.