> Does anybody else have thoughts to share about this? Yes, a couple. 1. Put your software into a foundation before you take VC money. This will force you to

> Does anybody else have thoughts to share about this? Yes, a couple. 1. Put your software into a foundation before you take VC money. This will force you to adopt a business model that does not depend on establishing what amounts to a proprietary monopoly on the software. It may also reduce your valuation in the eyes of many VCs. 2. Use a different funding model. Revenue-based financing [0] is a good alternative for any business that has ARR. It works well for rapidly growing SaaS businesses. You will pay credit card levels of interest but you keep control of the company which means that you can do what you want. I'm not saying that either of these options is easy. Both oblige you to figure out how to operate profitably or close to it from the start. That's hard to impossible for capital-intensive businesses. But it is far easier to be virtuous with respect to licenses if you are making money. My company currently uses revenue-based financing. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue-based_financing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue-based_financing