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A VC opens its own portfolio: 35 of 100 companies had a founder leave, most inside two years, so a split is normal, not a scandal, which is exactly why you should act early instead of stewing. It also names the trap your answer warns against in numbers: a too-short or missing vest leaves a departed founder holding 20 to 30 percent passively, poisoning the cap table for your next raise. Candid on the real cost being time, money, and morale.
35% of founders break up. Here's what we've learned.
From Icehouse Ventures by Icehouse Ventures 8 min read
- Founder splits are common (35% of a real portfolio), so treating an early, clean exit as normal beats letting it fester
- A weak or missing vesting schedule can leave a departed founder with 20 to 30 percent doing nothing, which blocks future fundraising
- Document the exit path (mediation, board discussion, decision rights) up front, because the real cost of a messy split is time and money, a startup's two scarcest resources
