Honestbee is a lesson in startup corporate governance
Shareholding structures don't need to be complex for corporate governance to go wrong. Honestbee's legal spat against its founder highlights that basic corporate governance in any company, whether small or big, is equally important.
Good corporate governance involves transparent processes, proper checks and balances and a culture of being able to have the board, at times, ask the founders the difficult questions. But when all the powers in decision making lie in one or two persons, this can be an extremely challenging task.
Ethics and personality traits are the most difficult aspects to do due diligence. At the end of the day, the most fundamental question is: Did he ultimately had the intention of defrauding investors right from the start? Or did he get 'lost' along the way and let greed get the better of him?
References:
https://vulcanpost.com/693129/honestbee-letter-of-demand-singapore/
https://vulcanpost.com/679033/honestbee-ex-ceo-joel-sng-handover-email/
