Jonny Bourfarhat of Hopin’s secondary was fine
Hopin failed. Lots of people are criticising the founder, Johnny Boufarhat, for taking money from a secondary.
People say it was obvious the business wouldn't make it so it was disgusting that he took the money.
First, what he sold looks like about 5%, maybe 10%, of what he owned at the time.
Secondly, the company raised money months after the secondary at its highest valuation. One of the leads had $22bn under management in 2022 and has been around since 2008. It's easy to say it's obvious something wouldn't make it in hindsight.
Thirdly, and most importantly, if you had a net worth of somewhere in the low billions all tied up in founder equity and your investors wanted you to keep going for it, wouldn't you want to take 5-10% out? You might even have had the chance of an exit for all the money and your investors wanted you to keep shooting for the stars.
It's easy to criticise. It's easy to say something is obvious in hindsight. It's rarely obvious at the time. And if you want your founders to go for it when they are already paper billionaires, it's actually pretty sensible for them to take 5-10% out and reasonable for the investors to allow or even encourage it.
End rant.
