Consider this a WAG because I don't know any of the people involved. I assume that in the VCs world there are winners (high multiple return) and losers (not a h

Consider this a WAG because I don't know any of the people involved. I assume that in the VCs world there are winners (high multiple return) and losers (not a high multiple return). While you may have attained profitability, in his mind you're actually a non-winner, and that is a continual cause of stress. To his peers he has probably been talking up the various angles for potential growth for your company for a long time, yet the desired growth has not been forthcoming. It looks and feels like failure within that peergroup (for their objectives), so a) that's where the reluctance, animosity, and faux-professional posturing came from in negotiations. Now he has to have a story for why the deal fell apart. That story is either that he believes you can grow the investment more going alone, or that you personally sunk it. Either way, it's on you and his pessimism is probably high. Not good, but then where else is he going to go with this? I think of VCs as managers, and I'm usually of the opinion that the most likely solution to a bad manager is a new job, so I'm inclined to favor any path away from this guy. What path would be best? Having a profitable company with 10+ employees is a pretty good position to be in if you want to launch something new. I'm inclined to recommend making full use of that opportunity, whether new equity from this VC is a possibility or not. Another concern, though, is that you don't want to risk the health of the company by diverting too much of the available cashflow, or by hurting their market positioning. So it seems to me that any pivot is going to have to be a soft one, or else you'll have to find a growth or new opportunity that really does seem like a sure bet. So my recommendations are: 1) Swallow your well-justified bitterness. It just won't help you get through this. If you want to spread truth about this VCs character, do it after you have gotten out of the current stickiness, and even then I think some coded politeness can suffice. 2) Tell the VC that you're going to double-down on finding new growth opportunities. Lay it on thick, and check in more frequently to give him backing with his peers. 3) Assume that the VC will talk smack (widely) about you if ever challenged in any public context, and may be doing so anyway now that this deal exploded, so be proactive about working your relationships with his peers and your peer community. Consider this your ongoing side project as you... 4) Work on finding the right pivot for you and for the company. Consider this your top priority. If you find another startup that has a better opportunity that you can jump to, take it. But don't risk your current profitable status. Tipping into negative cashflow will endanger the whole situation but will also give the VC more ammunition in laying blame on you.