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Is the ownership structure of the company a mix of PE, VC and bootstrap? How does that work? Speaking for myself, "taking" any kind of money or getting outright acquired by PE is a huge red flag for a startup and I wouldn't work at such a place unless I was completely out of options.

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Interesting. Pretty much none of that is true for us. We had achieved strong enough success that were past the stage VCs want to participate in a first round. Partnering with the PE firm gives us a war chest to land grab while the turf is being claimed in our space.

Why/how is PE money bad?

Well, it's not that PE money is bad, it's that PE participating in a round is a sign that the startup has maxed out its potential and has weak prospects. PE goes for semi-sure bets that can be goosed for short term profits. Layoffs and other cost-cutting measures are the name of the game up until your husk of a startup has good enough financials to dump on the next sucker downstream.

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