Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

We had nascent revenues, ridiculous cost structures and unrealistic valuations. I learned to avoid unnecessary conferences, avoid non-essential costs and strive for at least a neutral EBITDA if for no other reason than nobody was interested in giving us any more money. Until we weren’t. Nobody cared about our valuations any more.

Valuation 466

Valuation San Francisco Ratchet Liquidation Preference 466

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth? Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Board Effect

DECEMBER 29, 2021

We’ll review the challenges with pay equity and offer ways your board can improve it. Racial Equity in Nonprofit Compensation . Racial equity has been an issue in business, society, and nonprofits. Ultimately to achieve pay equity, nonprofits must also achieve racial equity.

Equity 105

Equity Salary Software Review Iowa 105

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

I’ve recently advised a number of emerging private equity and VC funds who are wrestling with the question: What are the highest impact steps they can take to support their portfolio companies? . Almost every private equity and venture capital investor now advertises that they have a platform to support their portfolio companies.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

Especially if you are a first-time business owner, the payback for this initiative is well worth the effort and cost. Unfortunately, I see too many new entrepreneurs who let their passion for a new idea or invention blind them to the stark realities of customer need, opportunity size, or pricing and cost implications.

Advisory Board 356

Advisory Board Bandwidth Cofounder Technical Review 356

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Things will cost more than you expect. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Cash flow out equates to burn rate, and the runway depends on your reserves.

Burn Rate 258

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Management Salary 258

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ For a Startup, Two Heads are Always Better Than One.” In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.”

Partner 258

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Equity 258

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 11, 2023

He’s founder and CEO of Greenhouse , a ‘hiring operating system’ for companies which spans recruiting and onboarding tools for enterprises and SMEs. Originally backed by venture capital, in 2021 Daniel worked with TPG , a large private equity firm, to make them the majority investor.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Equity DC Leveraged Buyout 78

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

The Founder needs to remember that meetings up to this point have been primarily off-site, with staged demos, and managed personally by the CEO or a small team. Sales and distribution channel activity will be analyzed, as well as cost of customer acquisition, to make an independent assessment of your financial projections.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

Managers of VC funds typically want to grow their business aggressively, just like the founders we back. Among the sites we have found most helpful with practical guides for founders: Biztree , First Search , Foundersuite , Goodwin Founders Workbench , Guides.co , Inc.com , and StartupRocket. .

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

www.startuplessonslearned.com

MAY 4, 2012

Founders Dilemmas: Equity Splits. The following is an excerpt from HBS Professor Noam Wasserman’s new book, The Founders Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup. On average, the founders who keep the most control over their company make the least amount of money. Lessons Learned.

Equity 72

Equity Founder Technical Cofounder Cofounder 72

VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

Most startups equate the process of fundraising to dating – founders have to typically kiss a lot of frogs until the find the right fit. It’s been a while since they’ve updated their RFS list and it captures all the buzzword’s of today’s tech world: AI, defence tech, climate, spatial computing, etc.

Artificial Inteligence 176

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Here’s another from The Startup Magazine Founder Interview Series. Abraham: As a company we truly believe in justice and a DE&I space (diversity, equity and inclusion) and help leaders understand the importance of diversity and inclusion of different cultures, whilst still creating a sense of unity by appreciating the differences.

Leadership 166

Leadership Founder Technical Review Entrepreneur 166

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Things will cost more than you expect. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Cash flow out equates to burn rate, and the runway depends on your reserves.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Angel Investor 310

View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Editor’s note: Understanding how to divide founder equity at a startup can be tricky, even to the point of reaching emotional riffs between founders. Below, Lee Hower offers advice for approaching these equity discussions objectively and properly.

Equity 315

Equity Founder Sweat Equity Cofounder 315

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. From traditional equity VC, Flexible VC borrows the option to pursue and reap the rewards of an outsized exit. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

SoCal CTO

MAY 27, 2010

I was just interviewed by Frank Peters - Tony Karrer and the Founder-Developer Gap. I received a follow-up question from an early-stage startup about the Founder Developer Gap that I’ve described before and that was part of the interview with Frank. This needs to fit with risk, cost, schedule, flexibility, etc.

CTO Hire 170

CTO Hire Developer Founder Startup 170

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

I like to say that “there are only co-founders” — it’s extraordinarily rare for a successful business to have just a sole founder. But not all co-founders are equal in terms of title, ownership, responsibilities, and so forth. Sometimes co-founders put off the equity split question for some time.

Cofounder 255

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 255

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

The Founder needs to remember that meetings up to this point have been primarily off-site, with staged demos, and managed personally by the CEO or a small team. Sales and distribution channel activity will be analyzed, as well as cost of customer acquisition, to make an independent assessment of your financial projections.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 379

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 28, 2012

But when it comes to core technical skills, more and more entrepreneurs are opting to partner with technical co-founders rather than hiring someone for an in-house position. I really believe that what’s most important for a founder is the ability to have a vision for the company, make sales and hire well. Laura Roeder , LKR.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Cofounder Founder Software Review 131

techcrunch.com

JUNE 22, 2012

Free Startup Docs: How Much Equity Should Advisors Get? This is where a lot of founders get stuck. Entrepreneurs want to compensate their mentors and advisors for the time they dedicate to helping their businesses grow, but they have no idea how much equity to offer. Digital Cameras. Headphones. CrunchBase. Hot topics.

Equity 94

Equity San Francisco Startup Silicon Valley 94

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund and mutual fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. High-frequency trading, algorithmic by its nature, is estimated to account for at least 50% of US equity markets trading volume. . But we’re doing it slowly. Pitchbot.vc

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 29, 2020

Most entrepreneurs never forget for a moment that having investors means owing money, even if they can legally argue that equity is not debt. It’s usually the small investors who want the most frequent updates, or phone calls before every direction change, and investor relations costs only go up as your business grows.

Bootstrapping 310

Bootstrapping Advisory Board Venture Capital Startup 310

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Of course, not every equity compensation story is a David Choe Story. If you’re thinking about extending equity to an employee or a vendor (as in the example above), you should know that the topic is multi-faceted. In this article, I’m going to examine: What equity compensation is. Different types of equity compensation.

Equity 60

Equity Employee Stock Options Vesting 60

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

It is going to cost a lot of money just to get the initial batch of products to test the market and would definitely require external funding. Forms of funding. ? Equity investment. Equity investment is the most popular and most talked-about avenue for startup funding. Equity investors. Sources of Funding.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

Adi Bittan, co-founder of a startup that failed due to a bad partnership. They even suggested that I should get less equity in the company because I didn’t bring the same amount of skill to the table.” Like every new entrepreneur, Adi Bittan planned for success. They were creating a high-tech calculator of sorts.

Partner 126

Partner Cost Technical Review Cofounder 126

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. Though RBI will displace some traditional equity VC, its much bigger impact will be to expand the pool of capital available for early-stage entrepreneurs. .

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

I like to say that “there are only co-founders” — it’s extraordinarily rare for a successful business to have just a sole founder. But not all co-founders are equal in terms of title, ownership, responsibilities, and so forth. Sometimes co-founders put off the equity split question for some time.

Cofounder 173

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 173

YoungUpstarts

MAY 27, 2019

by Christopher Grey, co-founder and COO of CapLinked. Often young founders don’t think about basic concepts like unit economics, which is selling something for more than what it costs to make. Inexperienced founders often overestimate their own importance and don’t appreciate the importance of the team they build around them.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Private Equity Software Review Equity 155

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Franchises Franchises Home Franchise 500 Home-Based Low Cost Top New Fast Growing Top Global Biz Opportunities Franchises for Sale Franchises A Bright Forecast for a Solar Panel Installation Franchise. What is Sweat Equity Worth? Determining how to value sweat equity is key when negotiating with investors and employees.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

I read commentary or Twitter or blogs and realize that there are also strongly held convictions that there are these evil VCs who do terrible things to mostly altruistic founders. But unlike the popular press reporting of this conflict — 80% of the time it is founder-to-founder conflict and not investor-to-founder conflict.

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

Still, there are a lot of downsides to taking venture money—the push to grow at all costs, our desire to be all up in your business, literally, and sometimes, we’re kind of obnoxious. Some of these folks are founders and CEOs, but not at high-growth tech startups. It will save everyone a lot of cost and time.

.Net 88

.Net Cap Table Startup Technical Review 88

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Things will cost more than you expect. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Cash flow out equates to burn rate, and the runway depends on your reserves.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 24, 2012

The following is an excerpt from HBS Professor Noam Wasserman’s new book, The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup. The book taps Noam’s analyses of data on 10,000 founders, plus the personal stories of Evan Williams of Twitter, Tim Westergren of Pandora, and two dozen other founders.

Equity 168

Equity Founder Cofounder Vesting 168

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 20, 2019

by Chris Grey, co-founder and COO of CapLinked. Vendors cut costs and get paid faster. Ultimately businesses and their customers will benefit from this via lower operating costs that allow for better value to be delivered rather than spent on administrative functions like accounting. Accounting.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Software Review Private Equity Cofounder 118

Scott Edward Walker

OCTOBER 19, 2020

In a couple of cases, the founders played lawyer on their own; in the other cases, the founders either used (i) a Web service that did not address IP issues or (ii) an inexperienced law firm. This would arise as a result of a founder improperly “moonlighting” (i.e., Any IP created by a founder (e.g.,

IP 52

IP Software Review Founder Technical Review 52

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

When you accept outside money, particularly a private equity (PE) investment, however, that changes. In this article, I’ll provide some personal stories of how investors have navigated the balance between raising private equity capital and not losing control of their startup. You make all the decisions, when you want, how you want.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94