Capital & Strategic Transactions
Financial governance, fundraising oversight, and exit preparation
Related-Party Transactions: Governing the Normal Condition
In a clinical-stage company, related-party transactions are not an aberration to be stamped out. They are the ordinary texture of how these companies get built. The governance question is not how to avoid them but how to handle them routinely, before any one of them becomes a problem.
Strategic Partnerships vs. Acquisition: Governance Considerations
When a company can either partner an asset or sell itself, the board is not choosing between two prices. It is choosing between two different futures, with different risks, different conflicts around the table, and a decision that is far less symmetrical than it appears.
Down Rounds and Board Governance
A down round looks like a valuation problem. It is actually a conflict problem — one in which the people deciding the terms are frequently the same people supplying the money, and the protection the board needs has to be built before the terms are set.
The Board's Role in IPO Readiness
Going public is not a financing event the board oversees. It is a transformation of what the board is — its composition, its committees, its information discipline, and its accountability. Most of the work that determines whether it goes well has to happen long before the roadshow.
Governance Dynamics During M&A Transactions
When a company moves from building to selling, the board's job changes character. Interests that were aligned for years diverge, conflicts that were dormant become live, and the quality of the process becomes as consequential as the price.
Preparing a Biopharma Company for Exit
Exit readiness in biopharma is not a checklist you complete in the months before a transaction. It is an operating posture that takes years to build — and a board discipline that is almost always started too late.
Evaluating Licensing Deals from the Board's Perspective
When management brings a licensing opportunity to the board, the governance questions matter as much as the financial ones. A framework for directors who want to engage substantively.
Managing Runway Pressure Without Panic
When the company has 12 to 18 months of cash remaining, the board's behavior determines whether the outcome is a disciplined raise or a desperate one. A governance framework for capital pressure.
Board Governance During Fundraising Rounds
Fundraising transforms board dynamics. Directors who understand the governance implications navigate it effectively. Those who don't create risk for the company and for themselves.