This is only marginally relevant for venture funding. All of the discussions in the article are about how to value a company based upon its current earnings an

This is only marginally relevant for venture funding. All of the discussions in the article are about how to value a company based upon its current earnings and earnings growth -- your average start-up has zero (or, more accurately, negative) earnings, so the value equation is completely different. Start-ups don't have EBIT. That said, I wouldn't really qualify any of the items mentioned in this post as "tricks" or "sleazy". Any halfway decent CFO or attorney can run the numbers and explain the outcomes. Instead, the bigger point is that any deal has to be viewed through the lens of the needs of both sides. For a businessperson who desperately needs $7 million today to pay for a new factory to fill an order, it may be worth giving up something down the road vs. foregoing the investment and losing out on the opportunity.