I’m quite a fan of the TV Show “The Sopranos” which is about a mob family. In a recent episode, a guy is trying to sell the family refuse business and he wonders why an Anthony Soprano is the second-highest paid member of staff when he doesn’t recall seeing him at the office. Being such a family-oriented ‘business’, various family members are also similarly positioned in the companies they look after.

It reminded me of venture capitalists: often in return for the funding you need as a startup, they’ll not only require a piece of the business, but they’ll also put one or more of their people onto the Board. Do you see why it reminds me of “The Sopranos”?

A friend of mine is currently on his second start-up, having acrimoniously split from his first company due to problems working with the rest of his VC-formed Board. He and his other co-founder left and set up a new firm in the same area of business which is now doing well - he has a much more savvy approach to investors now…

Let’s look at ezboard, Inc. and its VC partners, Labrador Ventures.

Labrador have quite an impressive investment portfolio - let’s look at one of them, Soligence, which provides, as I understand it, solutions to help people cut their cellular telephone expenditure. It’s all a bit tech-y for me! Anyway, look at the management team and they’re all tech-heads. Look at their Board of Directors and you’ll see that the first two names are Larry Kubal and Nina Ebert, both from Labrador: the former being a managing partner and the latter being their Chief Financial Officer. Nina Ebert was formerly CFO with Nice Ventures and was also at Saints Ventures where she was a Managing Director and CFO. Labrador Ventures refers to her as Nina Ebert Labatt.

If you look at ezboard, Inc.’s claimed Board of Directors, the first name is Sean Foote. What that page doesn’t tell you is that Sean Foote is also with Labrador Ventures.

But what of Robert Labatt himself? He’s ezboard, Inc.’s CEO but doesn’t appear to be otherwise connected to his wife’s firm - maybe him joining ezboard as its boss at the same time as Mrs. Labatt’s VC firm arranged a few million dollars of financing is a complete coincedence? He started up a firm called IDEA, Inc. which seems to have disappeared, or at least I can’t find any information about it; and let’s not forget Robert Labatt is all about promotion and marketing. When he left Gartner - where he apparently sat around and thought a lot (he is quoted as providing “thought leadership” there), didn’t he turn up at Saints Ventures - where she was MD and CFO - as some sort of “entrepreneur in residence”?

So it appears that the driving force for this “problem solving kinda guy” may not be Rob himself, but Nina: he leaves Gartner, spends some time working for his wife or at least working with his wife’s company. She moves company and then he’s installed at one of her new company’s investments. Must be nice to have these new positions handed to you… Mind you, I wouldn’t want to suggest there was any kind of nepotism at work here.

Oh and you know how Rob likes his running (see the DEMOfall presentation)? It seems she’s better than him at that too having beaten him at the Run to the Far Side 5k!