Lose Board control : Series B

A 'Board of Directors' is required for corporations in the US. And the board will grow and evolve as a company progresses (and as investors ask for board seats). But when can founder expect to lose control of the board?

Series B

Let's look at the data that's available. But note that the stated board seat composition show that founder lose majority at Series A.

Mike Suster (Both sides of the table) illustrates this in the image on his blog (below). But note that he says that even in Series A, founders do not have majority board seats.

Nadya Malenko (Boston College) says based on paper she has published based on a survey of US startups from 2002-2017 that

"before the second VC financing round, entrepreneurs typically control startup boards, but over the life cycle, control shifts to VCs, with most board seats held by investors by the fourth round of financing”

Embroker also provides the following example of how the board composition can change with each funding round.

• Seed Stage: 3 board members (2 founders and one seed investor)
• Series A: 4-5 board members (2 founders, one seed investor, 1 Series A venture capitalist investor, and possibly one independent director)
• Series B: 5 board members (2 founders, 1 Series A VC investor, 1 Series B VC investor, and one independent director)
• Series C: 5-7 board members (including the above, plus 1 Series C investor and possibly one more independent director)

Thanks!