This was the title of the final panel at the Silicon Valley Summit today in Mountain View, Calif. and the cross-section of panelists didn't mince words. Munjal Shah, CEO of Riya summed up the startup point of view on corporate involvement: "The problem with corporate investors is that they want to quantify everything and too much is unknown. Corporate investment doesn't fit with startups, but corporate acquisition works."

The VC's point of view, as voiced by Sanjay Subhedar from Storm Ventures, was even more blunt: "Corporate investment can limit growth, exit options and taint a startup." The panel also discussed some of the restrictions corporate investors can put on a startup, including right of first refusal, Nicolas El Baze from Partech International summed it up: "I would absolutely turn down any financing with right of first refusal attached." The overwhelming sentiment from the VC and startup portion of the panel was, corporate money is no good here, unless, of course, they're going to provide an exit.

The answer to the question posed by the title of the panel appears to be yes, they can get along...at least for an hour, on a panel together. But they probably shouldn't work together. It's best to leave the financing to the VCs and the acquiring to the corporations. — Brian Ward

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