I know of multiple startups where the acquisition price was exactly the price necessary -- down to four significant digits -- to pay off the VC companies that m

I know of multiple startups where the acquisition price was exactly the price necessary -- down to four significant digits -- to pay off the VC companies that made up 3 of the 5 sitting board seats. I myself exercised a (small!) amount in a company that got acquired and my shares all went to $0 because other shareholders got preferential treatment. (This company earlier made a point of the fact that there were no investors with preferential treatment, but either lied about that or somewhere along the line they got desperate and gave preferential treatment. In either case, the stakes were too small to bother suing.) At least I could claim a capital loss.