It's not like a board seat is this magic item that is stuck to you and you can't get rid of of you tried.
If a VC had truly written off the company, and board meetings are not worth their time anymore, they can just resign their seat.
If a VC had truly written off the company, and board meetings are not worth their time anymore, they can just resign their seat.
That's not a major component of venture backed startups. For a company that has already been written off as a failure, often the board members that represent the VC would rather not have to stay involved and keep showing up for meetings -- they could be elsewhere; there's an opportunity cost.