You Can't Fire a VC From Your Board: Here's Why | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics
2026-08-25 · 25 min · 11 entities
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Link in episode "You Can't Fire a VC From Your Board: Here's Why | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://twistartups.substack.com/
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Feed author/publisher: Jason Calacanis
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Link in episode "You Can't Fire a VC From Your Board: Here's Why | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://youtube.com/thisweekin
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Link in episode "You Can't Fire a VC From Your Board: Here's Why | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
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Link in episode "You Can't Fire a VC From Your Board: Here's Why | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://youtube.com/thisweekin
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You Can't Fire a VC From Your Board: Here's Why | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics
Episode description as stored
Today's show:
Can a founder actually fire a board member? Short answer: almost never. And the reason why may surprise a lot of founders.
On this edition of Legal Basics, Wilson Sonsini partner Becki DeGraw joins Jason for a deep dive into who really controls your board, when investors start earning seats, and the differences between a board member and a board observer. Check out an episode that might just save your cab table someday.
PLUS they walk through the full lifecycle of your startup's board, exploring what it actually controls, when founders should start adding their own board members, the ownership threshold that means investors will start asking for seats, and how boards evolve from seed rounds to Series B>
Timestamps:
0:06 Welcome back to Legal Basics
1:47 When should a seed stage founder add their first board member?
7:47 From founder-controlled to "balanced"
10:31 Private vs. public company board pay
12:18 Do board members get expenses covered?
14:34 Why observers need a confidentiality provision
15:36 The "sign in the next 24 hours" pressure tactic
17:46 How to remove a director
24:01 When to use "Pled" vs. "Pleaded"
Check out all of the Startup Basics episodes here:
https://thisweekinstartups.com/basics
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Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com
Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp
Follow Becki:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-degraw-639bbb62/
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/Jason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
Follow TWiST:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com