Raising $1.5M seed round. Lead investor ($750K) wants a board seat. I'm a solo founder. Is this normal at seed stage? What should I push back on?
Update for anyone following - we closed the round in December and went with Option 1 (3-person board). The independent seat is still open but were not in a rush to fill it.
So far the investor board member has been really helpful actually. They connected us with 2 potential enterprise customers already. I was nervous about giving up control but the founder protective provisions make me feel comfortable.
Hard agree with @smalltownlegal_15_Priya. I made this mistake with my first company — gave an angel a board seat and veto rights because I was desperate for funding. He blocked a Series A term sheet because the new investors wanted to dilute him, and the company nearly died. My second company: SAFE notes for angels, no board seats, no protective provisions. Much cleaner.