Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2020

They are still nowhere near the rate required to match the yearly total of 486 hit way back in 1999. Most startup founders voluntarily exit or are pushed out, and the fun is gone. The numbers represent a 45% increase from the previous quarter’s tally, but a 14% drop from the same quarter in 2019. Analysts want escalating profits.

Cost 319

Cost IPO Exit Strategy Initial Public Offering 319

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

For most startup employee’s startup stock options are now a bad deal. Why Startups Offer Stock Options. In tech startups stock options were here almost from the beginning, first offered to the founders in 1957 at Fairchild Semiconductor , the first chip startup in Silicon Valley. Here’s why.

Stock Options 333

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 333

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

Options are gravy - I lived through the first dot com era where we used stock options as a recruiting tool. I freely admit this (along with nearly everything between 1999-2000) was a mistake. We give out stock options. Some founders err on the side of telling employees absolutely everything.

Stock Options 294

Stock Options Stock Valuation Liquidation Preference 294

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 7, 2015

When I saw the proposal, I immediately thought of the web consulting rollups of 1999. I was in the middle of that with Interliant (I was a co-founder) – we bought 20+ companies, at one point has an almost $3 billion market cap (on $200 million of revenue – recognize the multiple), but went bankrupt in 2002.

Stock Options 70

Stock Options Cofounder Revenue Hosting 70

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

I started my first company in 1999 in London at the height of the dot com craze. As the economy soured and people grew wary of buying Internet software (we were SaaS as early as 1999 – our buyers were certainly “early adopters&# ) and life grew more difficult. Reach out to the founders, not the staff. We were hot.

PR 331

PR Software Review Ireland Germany 331

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2018

According to Investor's Business Daily , even though IPOs in 2018 through July were up nearly 39 percent from last year, the total of 115 companies so far is still nowhere near the rate required to match the yearly total of 486 hit way back in 1999. Most startup founders voluntarily exit or are pushed out, and the fun is gone.

Exit Strategy 128

Exit Strategy IPO Initial Public Offering SEC 128

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

Now … these are stock options and not restricted stock so you’ll likely be taxed at a long-term capital gains rate. When I was CEO of my first company (where I admittedly F’d up everything before I figured it all out) we initially calculated for people how much there options were going to be worth some day.

Stock Options 418

Stock Options Stock Liquidation Preference Option Pool 418