Thank you for your frank reflection. In my opinion, I think investors can do a lot more to help startups avoid issues like this. I think a lot of what we’re seeing is just road-rash from inexperienced startup leadership teams that honestly don’t know what good hiring, HR, and management practices actually look like — things that took more mature firms decades to refine.

It’s already common for VCs to provide access to legal and accounting resources. Why not go a step further and lead the way toward what good HR and management structures and procedures should look like, either as an actual requirement prior to investing and/or as a contribution made as part of your involvement. Most of these things aren’t in any way related to IP or competitive edge. There’s no reason lessons learned elsewhere couldn’t or shouldn’t be reused at every possible opportunity.