> It's pretty straightforward, as ethical dilemmas go. "Excitement" comes nowhere close to justifying breaking your word. Agreed - this is inexcusable. If yo

> It's pretty straightforward, as ethical dilemmas go. "Excitement" comes nowhere close to justifying breaking your word. Agreed - this is inexcusable. If you lose an investment because a later-stage investor is keen on you cheating existing investors out of what you already promised them, I'd say you dodged a bullet - you don't want them owning any piece of your company. If your later-stage investors are so keen on working with investors who are willing to renege on their promises and legal obligations to earlier investors, that says something about: (A) The types of entrepreneurs they want to work with (B) How they themselves can expect to be treated in later rounds, when they are now the "earlier investors".