Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

Shame about not getting it in legal writing that you owned the original IP. Forget to get around to setting up that Employee Stock Option Plan and want to be able to give the early guys their options at a low strike price? They usually ask for warrants (basically like a stock option) in exchange for taking a deferred fee.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 15, 2020

Given these key advantages, I believe that Lightning (or something like it) will ultimately eat all of the USD payment networks and create the foundation for MoIP (Money over IP). . When they can invest the marginal engineering hour in listing a new token that drives revenue vs. saving some costs on settlement, it’s hard to justify.

Networking 168

Networking Global OTC Security 168

Gust

DECEMBER 1, 2011

Nevertheless, choosing to defer basic corporate housekeeping items can be disastrous in some circumstances, as when the failure to spend a few thousand dollars on legal fees to clarify IP ownership and equity arrangements comes back to bite a successful company to the tune of millions of dollars on the eve of a liquidity event. Good stuff!

IP 114

IP Intellectual Property Equity Liquidity Event 114

Occam's Razor

JUNE 4, 2018

Present a yummy spreadsheet that quantifies the cost of inaction , how much money you’ll lose by not delivering a 25% improvement every week. In-stock status. Delivery times based on geo/IP/mobile phone location. In-stock status. Only 15 left in stock. Or, 1 in-stock in the REI store next to your office.

Conversion 124

Conversion eCommerce Artificial Inteligence Aggregator 124

View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Additionally, you should put whatever agreement you reach to paper , even if you have not yet incorporated or had your legal counsel draw up the founder stock paperwork. You can then work with your law firm to formally draw up founder common stock paperwork either then or subsequently. Ideation/IP. Experience/Seniority/Role.

Equity 315

Equity Founder Sweat Equity Cofounder 315

Agile VC

AUGUST 9, 2012

Governance/Control – Founder/CEO Mark Pincus has sold a good amount of his stock and owns <20% of shares outstanding, but now essentially has unilateral voting control of the company. So I can appreciate why public stock investors would be leery of Zynga and why the stock price has been punished recently.

Stock 160

Stock LBO .Net Valuation 160

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 14, 2011

Despite the money flowing towards Asia, most startups surveyed in Singapore cited funding as a key impediment to attaining their growth aspirations, due to the costs involved in expanding their businesses. 59-percent) and the average of several European countries (ranging from 54- to 67-percent).

Singapore 198

Singapore Technical Review Technology Incubator 198

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Additionally, you should put whatever agreement you reach to paper, even if you have not yet incorporated or had your legal counsel draw up the founder stock paperwork. You can then work with your law firm to formally draw up founder common stock paperwork either then or subsequently.

Cofounder 255

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 255

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

. – Build out low-cost force multipliers such as scouts , Advisors, Entrepreneurs in Residence, Venture Partners, and so on. Typically these outside resources are paid only on a success basis, so the marginal cost is low. . All of the strategies above have very modest fixed cost. This requires a real financial sacrifice.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

Hunter Walker

MAY 13, 2023

Sometimes you’d even get lucky and receive stock in the acquirer, which was how I gained pre-IPO equity in high growth stars like Pinterest and Facebook. And when they’re giving stock to existing shareholders instead of cash it’s at high 2021 valuations, buried below a preference stack.

Early Stage 117

Early Stage Cap Table Acquisition Sales 117

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Additionally, you should put whatever agreement you reach to paper, even if you have not yet incorporated or had your legal counsel draw up the founder stock paperwork. You can then work with your law firm to formally draw up founder common stock paperwork either then or subsequently.

Cofounder 173

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 173

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

Legal costs of early stage financing should be cheap – this is one of the final remaining arguments for convertible debt but even Paul acknowledges that this is no longer necessarily the case: “Different terms for different investors is clearly the way of the future. That’s OK, but it gives you a max (read: price!)

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

If you’re wildly successful early on or if they help you achieve a great valuation they actually pay a significant price for their eventual stock even though they took much more risk than a future investor and backed you early. Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? Stock Option plans.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Growthink Blog

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

And putting out there the “story” behind the numbers - the talent, work ethic, and integrity of our people, the suredness of our IP, the thoughtfulness of our product development roadmap, the sustainable competitive advantage of our operational cost structure, and the like. Relationships.

Harvest 48

Harvest IP Software Review Forecast 48

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

It’s such a tricky balance between being cost-focused & scrappy versus being impractical with how you spend your time. What if you are measuring CAC wrongly and you’re really not acquiring customers cost effectively? Stock option top-ups after a few years are vital retention mechanisms. And so must you.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 6, 2016

The actual cost to a company also can be quite real. Target not only spent $240 million to replace customers’ cards, but sales and the company’s stock price took a major hit from the resulting public fallout. Once a company has violated a customer’s trust — either directly or indirectly — it is difficult to restore that trust.

Small Business 34

Small Business SBA Small Business Administration Security 34

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Locks in rights, preferences and priviledges of the stock. It would be helpful to get a California standard employee manual, employee contract/agreements, IP ownership release to company, and confidentiality. All of those cost us as much if not more in legal time than the seed round. Posted by: Ted Wang | 03/02/2010 at 06:29 AM.

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

The Next Web

JANUARY 24, 2014

So let’s take stock: What do we offer? The company has a checkered past, but it was the first corporation in history to issue stock in exchange for capital. This legal-financial ingenuity lead to the creation of the world’s first stock exchange in 1602: the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Not in my view.

Netherlands 143

Netherlands Technical Review Stock Silicon Valley 143

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Between day one and your first confrontations with those issues, particularly if you’ve raised any outside capital, you will have formed a board and stocked it with people you can really get to work on your behalf. Can you acquire them at a sustainable cost? Are the logistics manageable? You’ve just got to listen.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

If you’re wildly successful early on or if they help you achieve a great valuation they actually pay a significant price for their eventual stock even though they took much more risk than a future investor and backed you early. Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? Stock Option plans.

Liquidation Preference 153

Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet Stock 153

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

To the best of my knowledge US law allows you to work on your own resources and in your own hours and let you personally own your IP. In some countries outside the US (the UK for example) employers can specify in an employment contract that ANY IP you develop while you’re employed by that company is owned by them.

Founder Vesting 365

Founder Vesting Intellectual Property Stock Options IP 365

Gust

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Enter into agreements between Newco and founders, early contributors, outside advisors or service providers under which they contribute or assign all intellectual property related to the company’s business to Newco in exchange for the issuance of founders’ stock (Common Stock). Make escrow arrangements for restricted stock (i.e.,

Intellectual Property 139

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Delaware Stock 139

ReadWriteStart

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

Mandal was the lead of Apple's mergers and acquisitions team, and Gupta was an IP attorney at a several national firms. You can ask questions about a variety of legal topics that concern your startup: contracts, stock issues, employment, licensing, patents, trademarks, real estate, just to name a few.

California 118

California Merger IP Startup 118

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets for preferred stock offerings are designed to protect the investor in case things don’t go as well as planned.   It is very expensive if you’re the entrepreneur since it doubles the cost to the company of paying dividends to the entrepreneur.   Say I invest $1MM in a company and receive 40% of the stock.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Startup Company Lawyer

JULY 20, 2009

Incorporating a company and issuing stock to the founders will help prevent misunderstandings among the founders about equity splits. If there is any IP created and there is more than one founder, then incorporating an entity and assigning IP to the entity is important. Issuing stock options.

IP 67

IP Stock Options Preferred Stock Capital Gains 67

mashable.com

AUGUST 31, 2010

Now that we’re nearing the home stretch of 2010, it’s a good time to take stock of various odds and ends for your business. Apple Declared "Marketer of the Decade" This iPhone 4 Costs $8 Million Next Apple Event Goes "Back to the Mac" View More » Mobile Starbucks Stores in New York Now Acce.

LLC 75

LLC Social Media Startup Philadelphia 75

mashable.com

AUGUST 31, 2010

Now that we’re nearing the home stretch of 2010, it’s a good time to take stock of various odds and ends for your business. Apple Declared "Marketer of the Decade" This iPhone 4 Costs $8 Million Next Apple Event Goes "Back to the Mac" View More » Mobile Starbucks Stores in New York Now Acce.

LLC 75

LLC Ruby Social Media Startup 75

Austin Startup

APRIL 25, 2017

I won’t dive into cost structure in this blog post, but let’s think through how Snap could grow revenue 20x. And to top it all off, Snap isn’t offering voting rights to public market investors, which should discount the stock price further. Revenue needs to grow 20x, and margins must expand dramatically.

Valuation 48

Valuation Technical Review Forecast Social Network 48

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

Apple Declared "Marketer of the Decade" This iPhone 4 Costs $8 Million Next Apple Event Goes "Back to the Mac" View More » Mobile Starbucks Stores in New York Now Acce. SCVNGR Makes Major Enhancements to iP. It's a unique approach, and one we'd love to discuss with entrepreneurs and their investment sources.

Angel Investor 84

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 84

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

Apple Declared "Marketer of the Decade" This iPhone 4 Costs $8 Million Next Apple Event Goes "Back to the Mac" View More » Mobile Starbucks Stores in New York Now Acce. SCVNGR Makes Major Enhancements to iP. It's a unique approach, and one we'd love to discuss with entrepreneurs and their investment sources.

Angel Investor 83

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 83

Scott Edward Walker

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

Mistake #2 : not buttoning-down IP ownership issues (at 10:20). S corp vs. C corp – “qualified small business stock” . Mistake #2: Not Buttoning-Down IP Ownership Issues. Zuckerberg” problem – IP is not assigned to the company by the founders and/or third-party developers (including in foreign countries).

Software Review 111

Software Review Delaware Accredited Investor Due Diligence 111

Scott Edward Walker

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

Prior to the event, I conducted a legal workshop entitled “The 5 Biggest Legal Mistakes That Startups Make,” which I have uploaded below.

Software Review 111

Software Review Delaware Accredited Investor Due Diligence 111

infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

For instance, many a BDC CEO has initiated a consultant to study cost cutting issues before announcing a significant layoff. Unlike employee training costs, which can typically be spread over years of service, the relative return from training a consultant is modest and pricey. IP) is an ugly thing at a startup. startupcto

Equity 40

Equity Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 40

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

I learned how to retain employees when stock options were no longer a real currency. I learned how to get press coverage when we were no longer “hot.&# I learned how to manage costs effectively. They seed funded my second company and even let me buy some IP in exchange for debt to get started. I never built Google.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

Tim Keane

OCTOBER 30, 2007

I think we thought that the good product guys could get away with it because the detail of good customer service was unimportant with strong IP. So, they were frequently out of stock on the fastest moving orders, usually at the end of the week. Then their days out of stock would grow.). Then their days out of stock would grow.).

Wisconsin 68

Wisconsin Architecture Startup IP 68

Austin Startup

MARCH 26, 2019

You just spent a few thousand dollars on advertising and your paid customer acquisition cost (CAC) numbers tested well relative to your best guess for customer lifetime value (LTV). All else being equal, the incremental cost of acquiring the next customer will always be higher than the last. What happens at 3X?

Technical Review 49

Technical Review Software Review China Acquisition 49

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

He had a stock option vesting program and had vested a significant amount of his stock but not all. He’s suing the company to get all of his stock options even though he signed a vesting agreement. People settle out of attrition when they realize how long and painful our legal system is and how much money it costs.

Vesting 150

Vesting Cofounder IP Stock Options 150