A good discussion of the downside of having board observers but, bottom line, this is a valuable tool for effecting compromises when negotiating among investors

A good discussion of the downside of having board observers but, bottom line, this is a valuable tool for effecting compromises when negotiating among investors and is therefore very often just a necessary (and manageable) price to pay for closing your funding round effectively or otherwise breaking sometimes tricky roadblocks among different people seeking a say in the startup's business. Once a startup has been VC-funded, control issues are inevitably a delicate proposition and this is just one more (and comparatively minor) piece of the normal balancing act. Essential point of the piece (and a good one): as an entrepreneur, when considering the board-observer role, don't forget the human element of how someone can sway others even without formal authority and thereby affect the dynamic of your board.