Re:Sloan Kettering’s Deal with Startup Ignites a New Uproar
by bsder on Monday September 24, 2018 @02:59PM
(#18060358)
> I would disclose and recuse myself from any such decision.
Disclosure is the key. As long as the people making the decision and cutting the check (investors, board, and officers) are aware of the conflict of interest, they can choose what your involvement should be.
For example, if you hire an AI expert as a consultant on evaluating AI companies, it may be with the explicit intent to buy the company for which he works as well as evaluate other companies in the space. This is one way to check people out before making an even bigger commitment.
In certain fields, there are so few "experts" that there may be no possibility of avoiding a conflict of interest because everybody is interconnected.
Disclosure is the key. As long as the people making the decision and cutting the check (investors, board, and officers) are aware of the conflict of interest, they can choose what your involvement should be.
For example, if you hire an AI expert as a consultant on evaluating AI companies, it may be with the explicit intent to buy the company for which he works as well as evaluate other companies in the space. This is one way to check people out before making an even bigger commitment.
In certain fields, there are so few "experts" that there may be no possibility of avoiding a conflict of interest because everybody is interconnected.