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In focus
- A how-to guide on whistleblowing protections
- Tracking VC funds: Your next investor could be right here
- From our archives: How the eFishery scandal affected other firms
Hello reader,
The 2014 documentary Citizenfour is a thrilling account of how Edward Snowden exposed a spying scandal. It includes his dramatic first meetings with journalists and follows the tense days leading up to his escape from Hong Kong to avoid extradition to the US.
The film may have won an Oscar, but for most corporate whistleblowers, the reality is far less cinematic – and considerably more mundane. It involves HR forms, internal emails, and all too often, personal and professional fallout.
But while exposing accounting fraud at a startup likely won’t force anyone to have to flee to Russia, it’s still critical that whistleblowers come forward to expose misconduct before the damage becomes irreparable.
As scandals like eFishery and TaniFund have shown, misconduct doesn’t just hurt one company – its damage can ripple across the entire ecosystem.
It’s clear that solid whistleblowing policies are becoming more important even for young companies, and they may soon be required by investors. This makes this guide a timely and practical read.
The two writers argue that things like clear processes and built-in protection mechanisms can go a long way and don’t have to be prohibitively costly.
For startups of all stripes, better a red flag today than a full-blown crisis tomorrow.
Peter Cowan, engagement editor
The Big Story
A guide to building whistleblower protections for startups
Image credit: Made by Tech in Asia with the help of AI
A whistleblower exposed the eFishery scandal, but what if they had been empowered to speak up even sooner?
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