For the people start a startup then it has to be worth it, because you're putting everything on the line. To him the relationship obviously wasn't as important as the startup's success. And if it got in the way? It had to go. With startups, there are only binary outcomes: wild success or abysmal failure. If you're betting everything on wild success, then sometimes you have to make those choices.
(I'm using startup in the sense of "high-growth new business")
That's a little much, IMO. Lobbying is a right acknowledged in the Constitution[1]. We live in a republic, and yes it has more power than the government has ever had before, but we also have more freedoms than we've ever had before, at least in the US. Zimbabwe is actually a fascist country.
This guy is just a mundane man defending his existence. Nothing more, nothing less.
(I'm using startup in the sense of "high-growth new business")