I received a fair amount of feedback (offline and online) to my post about whether startups should bring on strategic investors or not.
I’d like to clarify a few things:
First, that specific post was inspired by a specific company going through a difficult experience with a strategic partner.
Second, I pointed out in the original post and in the comments later that there are times where a strategic investor can be helpful and we encourage it. For example we have worked with a number of helpful strategic co-investors several times and will continue to do so – like Time Warner Investments, Comcast and others.
I do believe then as I believe now that founders and startups need to be careful when choosing their investors – and that is true whether it’s an angel, VC or a strategic. Everyone one of these groups has their pro’s and con’s depeding on the situation. My intention was to help entrepreneurs navigate some of the issues that could arise when taking a strategic investment.