If you want to know how out of alignment the power structures are in VC: Brand-name firms are manipulating founders into doing their dirty work — getting early investors to waive pro rata. They do this so they can negotiate low-price tranche rounds, without the participation of other investors who would complicate the issue of dilution. (i.e. If your argument is that your brand is worth a better price, you can’t have other investors getting equity on those terms.) Of course, other investors are welcome to exercise their pro rata in the subsequent tranches, at a much higher price. This strategy only works because founders don’t understand that they hold all of the cards; great companies are the only real constraint on venture capital. Investors are merely providers of a financial product. So, if founders want to go to bat for their early investors, they could. Make it clear there will be no budging on pro rata for early believers. That contracts that have been issued will always be honoured. At the same time, the firms who engage in this behaviour, treating the early investors with hostility, should be called out for it. It’s moronic, myopic behaviour which undermines the ecosystem of firms and companies they rely on.