It is a huge percentage of their funding, around 1/6th. If a company where to raise 6m and the founders got 1m not by equity, but by dividends! That just doesn't happen.
If the founder's want to sell some of their equity, I'm fine with that, but that is NOT what happened here. This is purely a pay-day.
If I knew my company was going to be the next eBay for realestate, why would you hamper your company by taking 21m off the table. This signals greed and/or being unsure of your future success.
If the founders retain a majority, this is less than 4% of their stake — that percentage is more relevant in analyzing the confidence signalling and motivations than a superficially large "$21 million" figure.
Clearly you still don't understand. They didn't sell 4% of their stake. If they did that, it would be somewhat reasonable. What they got was a dividend. In other words a bonus.
And yes the figure is still "large" because it is 1/6th of their funding that goes to their pockets, rather than the company.
If the founder's want to sell some of their equity, I'm fine with that, but that is NOT what happened here. This is purely a pay-day.
If I knew my company was going to be the next eBay for realestate, why would you hamper your company by taking 21m off the table. This signals greed and/or being unsure of your future success.