Kevin Donnelly at New Wave Ventures

Kevin Donnelly, a junior partner at up and coming venture firm New Wave Ventures, has invested in NOW!, a start-up consumer internet company. Kevin and Mark Rosen, NOW!’s founder, agree to hire a new CEO, Todd Brown, to lead and develop a compelling business model for the company. Todd is a former colleague of Kevin’s who has no experience as a CEO and little relevant market experience, but makes up for it in his passion, commitment, charisma and Kevin’s strong endorsement. The vignette chronicles two challenges faced by Now!’s board of directors: • The company makes very little progress under Todd and the Board is faced with the decision to replace him after only eight months • The bank that provided the company with Venture Debt would like to be repaid now that the company is underperforming