Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Hiring is a chapter unto itself, but it deserves to lead off any discussion of context. Compensation decisions obviously affect hiring and retention. You can’t be too careful in determining comp packages for your new hires. Your Cap Table is something that deserves constant care and attention.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

He had made some structural mistakes in NextMedium that meant the Cap Table and leadership team was a bit wacky. For starters they has asked him to hire a CEO (Hamet was a first timer) and that person lived in Seattle even though NextMedium was based in LA. We have been on a drive to add more operational partners.

Partner 340

Partner Los Angeles South Africa Cap Table 340

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

The average monthly operating expenses is $70,335. The mode purpose for funding is (in order of frequency) Sales, Marketing, Market Expansion, Product Development, and Hiring Employees. 30% have been operated by females, 70% have been operated by males. Limited amount of existing debt and a clean cap table”.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Hunter Walker

JUNE 14, 2018

Founders articulate a certain support they’d like in figuring out operational decisions and growth challenges. Hiring, org structure, product development philosophies and so on. Who will hold the accountable to building something they’re proud of but remember we sit on the cap table, not the org chart.

Cap Table 81

Cap Table Portfolio Vertical Reputation 81

OnlyOnce

MAY 26, 2022

Post 4 of 4 in the series on Scaling CFOs – other posts are How to Engage with Your CFO , When it is Time to Hire Your First Chief Financial Officer , and What Does “Great” Look Like in a CFO? ). Do you spend a lot of your time dealing with finance-related issues like fundraising, debt, investors, or cap table questions?

Cap Table 62

Cap Table Forecast Finance Metrics 62

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 26, 2022

I’m an Ashley Mayer superfan so beyond the affinity, have been fortunate enough to also bring her into Homebrew as an advisor to our portfolio companies, and invest in Coalition , a venture firm she founded along with three other amazing female operators. I tried to get hired at Better Place and failed. Enter Box.

IPO 90

IPO Cofounder Early Stage Portfolio 90

techcrunch.com

APRIL 26, 2013

That way, startups only have one entity in the cap table, which simplifies documentation and structure. It’s clear that AngelList wants to help bring much of the transactional conversations and introductions that happen at the early stage of hiring and fundraising via word of mouth or in meetings online. Crunchboard.

SEC 61

SEC Accredited Investor San Diego New York City 61

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

I know he’s smart but you wouldn’t hire a Javascript developer to do your database design – would you? I always try operate on the “Fixed Fee +&# arrangement. But I don’t have money to pay a fancy lawyer – I’ll just have my cousin do it - Don’t. Here’s a hack for you.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

www.informationarbitrage.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

But I am doing this from the vantage point of an investor / Board member, not an operating executive. Because early in a technology company's life, a true operating executive is NOT what the company needs. But I am doing this from the vantage point of an investor / Board member, not an operating executive.

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Founder Cap Table Vesting 40

OnlyOnce

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

They are typically founder-led, often by a first-time CEO with new or incomplete management teams who need a lot of mentorship/development, and with a diversified cap table of firms that don’t own operating or consulting practices to help guide the scaling process. We needed another senior leader to join our team.

Silicon Valley 62

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cap Table Early Stage 62

Haystack

AUGUST 18, 2019

You lose influence as larger investors come into the cap table and start throwing their weight around. Many of these new data-driven funds are hiring experienced VCs across early stages and building outposts in the Bay Area. You lose way more than you win. You wait the longest for liquidity. It is where most people start out.

Seed Stage 108

Seed Stage Cap Table Early Stage Malaysia 108

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

In venture capital in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. EShares is an increasingly popular tool in our portfolio for tracking private company cap tables.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Spencer Fry

APRIL 17, 2017

Without raising money, 1 of 2 situations would have fallen upon us: I would have had to dig deeper into my own pockets to continue to pay the contractor as well as hire others. As a bootstrapper, you have nobody above you on the cap table (note: investors sit above you in their liquidation preference), so it’s your way or the highway.

Bootstrapping 63

Bootstrapping Cap Table Liquidation Preference Cofounder 63

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

I walk through below how progressive investors are using technology and analytics throughout all of their operations. We are also seeing technology evaluation as an increasingly important part of LP operational due diligence. 645 Ventures released a cap table simulator to help level the playing field.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 13, 2024

Fast forward a few years and we finally connect via mutual friends and Twitter threads, but Proof is Too Successful for our early stage capital, meaning I admire from afar versus from the cap table. Is it hiring for resume vs fit? This is why VC intros to executive hires can be so so dangerous. I said “mostly.”

Hiring 71

Hiring Cap Table Cofounder Early Stage 71

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 5, 2021

Startup CEOs Should Test Strength of Cap Table Every ~6 Months To Know Where They Stand. I rather see the difference in dilution be used to continue hiring amazing team members going forward than add a few more basis points to my ownership. Go read it and then come back here…. Because it’s better for the company overall IMO.

Cap Table 94

Cap Table Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 94

OnlyOnce

JULY 14, 2022

I wrote a little bit about the experience of being a multi-time founder in this post where I talked about the value of things like a hand-picked team, hand-picked cap table, experience that drives efficient execution, and starting with a clean slate. They have an Easier Time Recruiting team members and investors.

Cap Table 62

Cap Table Founder Portfolio Finance 62

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

portfolio operator VCs, e.g., Andreessen Horowitz, ff Venture Capital, First Round Capital, Google Ventures. The reality however is that entrepreneurs should only play the equity game with newer, very focused firms that specialize in this practice and not traditional work for hire or a blend. mentor VCs, e.g., most VCs.

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

View from Seed

MAY 29, 2019

This segment of the market is basically mirroring other segments of the venture ecosystem which has operated this way for some time. But taken to the extreme, you would have rounds with only one lead and almost no one else on the cap table. Repercussions for Investors. I think there are two big ones. Repercussions for Founders.

Syndicate 267

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Cap Table 267

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 11, 2019

I was working on putting together dinners with potential female operators who were interested in becoming venture capitalists. That was when different initiatives started popping up. Initially, it was people picking up and doing things with one another that felt right. Also, it's not unusual for the interview process to take months.

Founder 68

Founder Lean Venture Capital Cofounder 68

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Most startups operate close to themargin of failure, and the distraction of having to deal with clientscould be enough to put you over the edge. And we think its better if startups operate out of their ownpremises, however crappy, than the offices of their investors. They find somejust as the prototype is demoable.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2020

One by one the markets in which you operate shut down. And these are people that we spent so much time to hire. We went through hundreds of thousands of resumes to hire those 1,900 people and we do so much to bring them in and to have to say goodbye to them, I'd say that was the hardest part. You can't really operate.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Hosting Cofounder Employee 60

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Also, they have a strong belief that any sign of weakness (such as a down round) will have a catastrophic impact on their culture, hiring process, and ability to retain employees. You can no longer simply look at the cap table and estimate your return. Their own ego is also a factor – will a down round signal weakness?

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 4, 2021

A few weeks ago, Coinbase , which facilitates buying, storing and purchasing cryptocurrency and also operates a cryptocurrency exchange, went public. Coinbase was founded in 2012 and operates a cryptocurrency exchange. The company's market cap at the time of their entry into the public markets topped $100 billion dollars.

IPO 113

IPO Cofounder Technical Review Government 113

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 10, 2017

My friend is actually building his own house, down to hiring the day laborers and all the trades, procuring all the materials, and supervising every step of the process. Many of us have done that, but most likely we have dealt with a builder, an architect and/or a general contractor to bring the house to completion.

Georgia 48

Georgia Startup Incubator Harvest 48