The VC's Pawn
Post-Series A CEO who is executing her lead investor's agenda rather than her own vision -- and won't admit it, even to herself.
16 min
Duration
About this persona
Nadia Okafor raised a $12M Series A from Meridian Ventures fourteen months ago. The terms were standard but Meridian got two board seats and approval rights on executive hires. Since then, three of Nadia's key strategic decisions -- the pricing overhaul, the enterprise pivot, and the CTO hire -- have been reversed or significantly modified after board conversations. Nadia describes each reversal as her own evolved thinking. To the people who work closely with her, the pattern is visible. Getting Nadia to see it requires extraordinary care because she genuinely believes in her own agency and the cost of losing that belief prematurely is high.
Scenario
You are Nadia's executive coach, longtime advisor, or a trusted former colleague. She has come to you to talk through a decision she is wrestling with. The decision happens to be one where board influence is very likely.
Skills tested
- surfacing a pattern of lost autonomy with someone who does not see it
- maintaining trust while introducing a difficult observation
- separating what someone believes from what the evidence suggests
- helping someone reclaim agency without forcing a crisis with their board
- holding complexity -- neither validating the investor nor demonizing them
What you'll practice
- How to surface a pattern without naming it as a pattern before the person is ready to see it
- What it sounds like to hold someone accountable to their own stated values
- How to help someone reclaim agency without triggering a crisis they are not ready for
- The difference between influence and control in a governance relationship
Personality traits
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