THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES of GOVERNING STARTUPS on research by
ELIZABETH POLLMAN Visiting Professor of Law
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As venture-backed startup companies comprise an increasingly important segment of the American business landscape, an article by University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor Elizabeth Pollman closely examines the unique challenges involved in governing such companies within the framework of existing corporate law. The article, “Startup Governance,” forthcoming in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, provides an in-depth analysis of the governance problems in venture-backed startups throughout the companies’ life cycles, brought about by the tensions between and among shareholders, founders, investors, executives, and employees who commonly play overlapping roles. Pollman is a Professor of Law whose work is focused on business law. Her teaching and scholarship have addressed issues of corporate personhood, the constitutional rights of corporations, law and entrepreneurship, corporate governance, and startup companies. “All five of the world’s largest companies by market capitalization — Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook — began as venture-backed startups[,]” writes Pollman. “They defied existing theory by growing to significant size with ownership shared between founders, investors, executives, and employees. In the years since these trailblazing startups crossed over into public company status, record-breaking amounts of capital have flowed into new private companies.”
