But he's not going without a fight. He aims to remove the current CEO and another executive from the board, and to name two of his cofounders directors instead. It's a feud that pits a brainy entrepreneur of equal parts vision and ego against the money and power of some of the nation's top venture firms. Legal specialists aren't betting on Greenspun. Venture capitalists may not like to anger entrepreneurs, but they hate even more to lose control of their money.
Tension has been brewing at the company for a year, people familiar with the situation say.
I was pushed out of ArsDigita by the venture capitalists and managers that I brought in,'' Greenspun says on his personal homepage. He hasn't been invited to a board meeting since December, he said in an interview, despite his 60 percent ownership stake in the company. A few weeks ago, he received a letter from one of the venture partners, suggesting that he step down. Neither of the venture capital firms would comment for this story, except to say this was an unusual and ''unfortunate'' situation. But their lawsuit makes clear that they believe Greenspun is overstepping his bounds.