Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Other founders, “as a privately held company we don’t disclose our valuation.&# Me, “dude, I’m not a journalist. I just want to figure out what a fair valuation is.&# I figured all the VC’s talked so we should. This starts with understanding how VCs and entrepreneurs often see valuation differently.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

For your first key hires, three, five, maybe as much as ten, you will probably not be able to use any kind of formula. For example, suppose you're just two founders and you want to hire an additional hacker who's so good you feel he'll increase the average outcome of the whole company by 20%. n = (1.2 - 1)/1.2 =.167. and we have 11.1%

Early Stage 391

Early Stage Equity CTO Hire Sweat Equity 391

The Next Web

OCTOBER 7, 2013

They were referring to non-founder engineers, most commonly the first hire for technology businesses. Startup employees are granted common shares out of something called an option pool. Every time a startup raises capital, all common shareholders are diluted. Converting percents to cents (and dollars).

Engineer 129

Engineer Dilution Option Pool Vesting 129

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

Chris Dixon wrote a blog post about “ The one number you should know about your equity grant “ The one number you should know about your equity grant is the percent of the company you are being granted (in options, shares, whatever – it doesn’t matter – just the % matters). Percent of the outstanding option pool: meaningless.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62