Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

Nowhere is the politics more difficult than with co-founders, which is why for years I’ve spoken publicly about “ the co-founder mythology.” ” Of course we all go into businesses expecting to be aligned with our co-founders but over time life changes. Equity for the future?

Founder 340

Founder Sacramento Cofounder Technical Review 340

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

Some of these folks are founders and CEOs, but not at high-growth tech startups. While they might be generally smart, they’re unsophisticated investors who don’t know what the market is for where you are. On the other hand, they could be the opposite—much more focused on near-term cash distributions than long-term equity appreciation.

.Net 88

.Net Cap Table Startup Technical Review 88

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. The right time to jump is a function of favorable career, personal, and market circumstances. The co-founder relationship dilemma.

Founder 325

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Employee Equity: How Much? The most common comment in this long and complicated MBA Mondays series on Employee Equity is the question of how much equity should you grant when you make a hire. And the amount of equity you need to grant to accomplish these hires is also an art and most certainly not a science.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2021

Every entrepreneur needs to understand the following basics, to be addressed at company formation, as they engage a qualified attorney to draw up the paperwork: Allocate founder’s stock commensurate with commitment. Key founder vesting should have no cliff. This is called stock dilution control.

Vesting 298

Vesting Dilution Stock Founder Vesting 298

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

This structure offers some of the benefits of traditional equity VC, without some of the negatives of equity VC. I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

. “We’re all equal co-founders and we don’t care about titles.&# Still, I’ll bet that functionally you divide areas of competence like sales & marketing, product, engineering, biz dev, etc. Dilute your cash, equity or both. and my favorite]. What will it do?

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

What is it, and how should founders think about it? Glen Mello: Venture debt is a good complement to equity. It’s generally got a lower cost compared to equity capital and can help support growth. So it makes it a lot more challenging when you have debt on the books that isn’t as longer term as equity.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

years ago and told me, “I just got offered the chance to buy this company because the founder doesn’t want to continue. I can save tons of development time and I think I can buy it for all equity. How much dilution should I take for it?&# My friend’s company was pre-revenue. Me: “Zero dilution.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2013

One of the challenges for investing in startups has always been the lack of an established way for founders and investors to actually measure and decide on the valuation of the startup concerned. When you are clocking 80-hour weeks building your start-up from the ground-up on limited funds, neither of those options are attractive.”

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Web Technical Review Angel Investor 150

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Sales & Marketing | Wednesdays. SALES & MARKETING. Online Marketing. Bringing Innovation to Market. Should You Share Equity with Consultants? a 50-employee provider of e-marketing solutions to small and midsize businesses, based in Needham, Mass. But sharing equity can have pitfalls, too. Newsletters.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. The right time to jump is a function of favorable career, personal, and market circumstances. The co-founder relationship dilemma.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 7, 2017

Employee options pools, typically created at the point of financings, shouldn’t be treated as haggling over dilution, but rather a strategic resource that will help founders build the best team and, by extension, a more valuable company.

Equity 94

Equity Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Founder 94

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2011

Clavier began his presentation at the beginning of a company's lifecycle, asking how many co-founders a startup ought to have. If you like this kind of advice, check out my coverage of a talk by Paul Palmieri, Co-Founder and CEO of mobile advertising service Millennial Media, titled " Investing in Your Influencers. ".

Investment Bankers 153

Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

The Next Web

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Two more entrepreneurial ventures later, Gleb cofounded online backup provider Backblaze to help consumers affordably, automatically, and safely back up their data. What are the pros and cons of starting a business alone versus with cofounders? How many founders are too many? One” – You have to have a cofounder.

Cofounder 143

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Kenya Dilution 143

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup Founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. The right time to jump is a function of favorable career, personal, and market circumstances. The co-Founder relationship dilemma.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268

Austin Startup

JUNE 30, 2017

TL;DR : Elite accelerators have cemented themselves as the universities of the entrepreneurial world; offering a bundle of resources in exchange for a price (tuition in form of equity). Background / Related Reading: Founder Education Gatekeepers and Ecosystems What is the purpose of universities?

Curation 48

Curation Startup Cofounder Equity 48

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2017

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. The right time to jump is a function of favorable career, personal, and market circumstances. The co-founder relationship dilemma.

Hockey Stick 144

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2013

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup Founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. The right time to jump is a function of favorable career, personal, and market circumstances. The co-Founder relationship dilemma.

Founder 245

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2018

Of course, initially these founder’s shares were worth essentially nothing, but it doesn’t take much of an imagination to grasp the possibilities. Now is the time to talk to a qualified attorney, and get some discipline in place for the following strategies: Manage founder’s shares like gold with partners.

Stock 129

Stock Vesting Preferred Stock Cofounder 129

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 1, 2009

I was reading one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs, VentureHacks, this weekend and noticed that they are running a long piece on how to pick a co-founder. Once it’s set up I recommend bringing in a co-founder and giving them 10-30% of the company depending upon when you bring them in. You’ll be fine.

Hiring 289

Hiring Cofounder Dilution Startup 289

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 25, 2018

It was there that I met Eric Simone (one of the first investors in Bazaarvoice) as well as Josh Baer (one of the first investors in Bazaarvoice through his team building our first solution and getting paid primarily in equity versus cash). Still in business today and run by my co-founder. Below is a post I wrote on their Yahoo!

Bootstrapping 48

Bootstrapping Austin Equity Cofounder 48

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2015

Every entrepreneur needs to understand the following basics, to be addressed at company formation, as they engage a qualified attorney to draw up the paperwork: Allocate founder’s stock commensurate with commitment. Key founder vesting should have no cliff. This is called stock dilution control.

Stock 120

Stock Vesting Common Stock Founder Vesting 120

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2019

Most founders who are raising capital look first to traditional equity VCs. Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) is a new form of VC financing, distinct from the preferred equity structure most VCs use. For more background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Less or no dilution.

Revenue 60

Revenue Liquidation Preference Equity Cofounder 60

blog.nahurst.com

JULY 19, 2010

The graphic below balances the risks cofounders take with their relative contributions to help answer this question. This covers one of the most common situations I encounter: For a pre-funding web startup whose team includes only a non-technical cofounder, how much equity should an incoming technical cofounder get?

Technical Cofounder 43

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Equity Salary 43

The Next Web

OCTOBER 21, 2013

Neil Rimer is a Partner and co-founder of Index Ventures. Yet, surprisingly, we continue to come across founders who have made significant mistakes in their early capital raises that we suspect go against their own instincts and jeopardize the foundations of the businesses they are building.

Cap Table 128

Cap Table Option Pool Angel Investor Entrepreneur 128

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

You’ve found yourself in a super hot category and – let’s face it – it’s still a very frothy venture capital funding market so you may have loads of VCs chasing you. You are either bought for stock or for equity. You just said, “nobody would take 1-2% dilution.” Think about it.

Valuation 316

Valuation Balance Sheet Dilution Term Sheet 316

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Should you co-found your company with a software development shop? Not surprisingly, the list above also is ranked from least to most equity stake in an investment for the investor, relative to the cash they invest. The question is: how should they be compensated when cofounding a company? mentor VCs, e.g., most VCs. The cliffs?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

venturehacks.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

The Equity Equation. As this nuclear winter of venture hacks continues, I thought you might enjoy our thoughts on Paul Graham’s The Equity Equation. ” Read the rest of The Equity Equation first; it is great. You have to pay market rates regardless of the equity equation. SUPPORTED BY. venturehacks.

Equity 40

Equity Cap Table Valuation RSS 40

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

Many cups of coffee and pizzas later, the weekend culminates in a round of presentations from the teams, which clearly articulate the startup’s pitch: problem, market, solution, team, etc. Very cool concept and I want to thank the founder Adil Mohammed for inviting me to take part in it. Know your market. Be a salesman.

Elevator Pitch 102

Elevator Pitch Incubator Technical Review Startup 102

Austin Startup

MARCH 7, 2021

Texas is the most promising technology market in the United States. It seems like every day there is a new headline about an exceptional startup founder, investor, or corporate headquarters moving to Texas. Now the 9th largest economy in the world, it‘s clear that the rest of the world is waking up to the potential in Texas.

Texas 90

Texas San Antonio Houston Dallas 90

David Teten

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

In particular, this model is designed to help all team members understand the impact of dilution on their options. Such a model is particularly helpful for those founders looking for a co-founder or key employee. Such a model is particularly helpful for those founders looking for a co-founder or key employee.

Employee 155

Employee IRR Startup Mexico 155

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 14, 2012

Instead of taking equity, he asked for a $2 per dress royalty until he recovered his capital, then $1 per dress thereafter. How should the entrepreneur think about Kevin’s royalty offer against Lori and Daymond’s equity offer? Kevin’s offer seems to be pretty attractive given that there is no equity dilution.

Equity 164

Equity Dilution Redemption Distribution 164

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

There are a number of factors that have contributed to the rise of pre-seed rounds, but the strongest have been the frothy late-stage financing market, coupled with both the scaling-up of some of the early winners in the institutional seed ecosystem and the scaling-down of some larger funds that retrenched after the financial crisis.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

Marketing Intern. How to Divide Equity to Startup Founders, Advisors, and Employees. The part that I’d like to zero in on is when you’ve got a high growth company what are some of the best practices out there to distribute equity to the founders, advisors, and employees? Equity for Founders.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

Startup Company Lawyer

MAY 4, 2009

Adeo Ressi , the founding member of TheFunded , recently announced the establishment of TheFunded Founder Institute. The Founder Institute helps founders launch innovative companies by providing training, services, and company-building assignments, such as incorporating the business, filing provision patents, and setting up books and records.

Founder 28

Founder Warrant San Francisco Intellectual Property 28