It seems like the most likely scenario is that they burned through the VC cash and couldn't raise more, so they were forced to sell. If the VCs had some high l

It seems like the most likely scenario is that they burned through the VC cash and couldn't raise more, so they were forced to sell. If the VCs had some high liquidation preference it could easily explain how the common shareholders and early investors (like his dad) were wiped out. It is obviously a total bummer that his dad lost $100k in the process. But, he tries to make it sound like he was tricked out of his pension or something. This was a very high risk investment where the most likely outcome would be a total loss.