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 334

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 334

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 7, 2015

When I saw the proposal, I immediately thought of the web consulting rollups of 1999. Companies were being bought (and valued) at 10x forward revenue only to be valued at between 0.5x revenue several years later. Do you remember US Web, iXL, Scient, and Viant? I’d argue the 0.5x Or the ASP rollup?

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. They haven’t hit their revenue targets.

PR 331

PR Software Review Ireland Germany 331

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2011

He says that you should never consider a public offering unless you are confident that the company will deliver increasing profits and revenue after the offering, so that the public buyer can anticipate a gain. In 1999, there were 486 IPOs nationwide; just 10 years later, in 2009, there were only 63. Do you need this for your image?

IPO 223

IPO Social Media Media Exit Strategy 223

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

I was paid less in salary in 2004 than I was paid at the job I quit in 1999 (a job I had held 8+ years). I learned how to retain employees when stock options were no longer a real currency. and we ultimately sold when we hit $14 million and had more than $30 million in backlog revenue. million, then $5.9m, $7.7m

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285