It is important that founding teams declare if two of the co-founders are married to each other, blood relatives or cousins. The team can choose to reveal that after the pitch, but I prefer if the team takes the bull by the horns and reveals the full extent of the relationship before they start the pitch. Investors that have apprehensions about investing in founding teams where the members are related, should decide if they will be willing to look over those issues before the pitch, not after.

Unfortunately, many founding teams are advised to withhold such information or to mislead investors by playing around with the last names to avoid detection, but such sneaky tactics only reinforce the fear that the founding team with familial ties drown out the ethical voice that should discourage actions that shake investor confidence.

To allay the fear of those investors that have the first-hand experience of watching their investment value destroyed due to factors like, family feuds, withholding important information or the family member opening a competing venture, founding teams should be as communicative as possible so that these fears aren’t allowed to fester.

The investor may still decide not to invest in the company but at least the founding team does not lose face when investors find out that the founding team used diversionary tactics to slip one by them!

85/2018