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. Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs.

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Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2018

Unfortunately, in my years since as a small business advisor, I have seen too many founders squander this asset through a lack of understanding of some basic legal and operational issues, or by handing out nominally “free” stock to the wrong people at the wrong time. Always specify a vesting period for new partners.

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Stock Vesting Preferred Stock Cofounder 129

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. Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2015

It’s disconcerting for most to realize that these shares are initially worth nothing, and the challenge is to get that value up as quickly as possible, without losing it just as quickly to investors, lazy partners and taxation. This is the purpose of a vesting schedule, which issues allocated stock over time.

Stock 120

Stock Vesting Common Stock Founder Vesting 120

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. Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2013

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a Founder agreement at the beginning. This oversight can lead to the so-called “forgotten Founder” problem. Later, when your venture is trying to close on financing, or even going public, that forgotten partner surfaces, demanding their original share.

Non-Compete 235

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Startup Cofounder 235

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

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 2, 2017

It’s hard enough to get a job at a venture capital or private equity firm; it’s even more complex to join as a Partner. Sean Seton-Rogers, Partner, Profounders Capital, breaks the conversation into three areas: Control: voting/veto for new deals, share of management company. So assessing fit is critical. What should the firm do?

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Partner 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2012

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a Founder agreement at the beginning. This oversight can lead to the so-called “forgotten founder” problem. Later, when your venture is trying to close on financing, or even going public, that forgotten partner surfaces, demanding their original share.

Non-Compete 249

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Cofounder Startup 249

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. Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs.

Hockey Stick 144

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 144

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2011

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a founder agreement at the beginning. This oversight can lead to the so-called “forgotten founder” problem. Early co-founders often drop out of the picture due to disagreements, and you forget about them, but they don’t forget about the verbal promises you made.

Non-Compete 246

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Entrepreneur Cofounder 246

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

They suffered in trying to live up to public perceptions and the demands to continue their successes. I spend a ton of time with founders discussing personal issues such founder fighting, the fear of failure, the rejection of investors as well as dealing with real failure and figuring out the aftermath. Every founder knows this.

Houston 150

Houston Vesting Founder Capital Call 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2010

Here are some examples: Failure to document a founder agreement at the beginning. This shortcut can lead to the so-called “forgotten founder” problem. Early co-founders often drop out of the picture due to disagreements, and you forget about them, but they don’t forget about the verbal promises you made.

Non-Compete 125

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Startup Cofounder 125

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

If I ever say anything less than positive, I have no vested interests in doing so. So there is likely robust demand from borrowers. Investors: Foundation Capital (lead), with existing investors: Morgenthaler Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Canaan Partners. Enter P2P lending. Online peer-to-peer lending. It sucked.

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Venture Capital Social Network Angel Investor Chad 265

Diego Basch

JUNE 21, 2012

The purpose of this post is to analyze the folowing problem: Joe Founder comes to Silicon Valley with a laptop full of dreams, but no money. When a partner at GiganticTree Ventures asks them how they plan to reach sales of 100M/year, they have all the right answers. Shareholders demand it! What should Joe do?

Silicon Valley 78

Silicon Valley Las Vegas San Francisco Vesting 78

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

But in business, you want a lot of partners. In the private equity universe, most Partners have primary training as deal-makers, not as managers. See Bessemer Venture Partners’ A comprehensive guide to security for startups. Cobalt for General Partners helps GPs to optimize their fundraising strategy. 1) Manage the firm

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Basing a consultant’s compensation on the incremental revenue they generate is a great example of a deal that is on The Fringe (for other creative approaches to partnering, see Agreements on The Fringe). Given all the demands on your time, the hours spent educating a consultant regarding your business are costly. Cheers, Brian.

Equity 40

Equity Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 40

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I gave him the same advice I give nearly all over-worked, control-freak, do-everything-yourself startup founders: “Your number one priority isn’t any of these things. There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder. It’s a very cool vibe at Founder’s Coop. My recipe for Seattle or your community: 1.

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Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

I think it would help founders to understand funding better—notjust the mechanics of it, but what investors are thinking. And if trouble withinvestors is one of the biggest threats to a startup, managing themis one of the most important skills founders need to learn. Few startups get it quite right. Many are underfunded.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

After a thorough analysis of those 32 start-up post-mortems, we have determined the common reasons founders gave to compile this list of the top 20 ways to have your startup fail. We were obviously wrong about Untitled Partners’ ability to grow through the subsequent downturn. #19 13 – Disharmony with Investors/Co-founders.

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Cofounder Startup Technical Cofounder CTO Hire 89

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

At the end, I asked myself what are the most critical resources I need to be successful and the answer was partners and developers. Go vest yourself. When a co-founder walks out of a company — as was the case for me — you’ve already been dealt a heavy blow. Post-Mortem Title : Untitled Partners Post-Mortem.

Software Review 79

Software Review Startup Technical Review Vesting 79

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

What is the best advice you can give for finding a business partner? Don’t quickly choose any business partner. Whats is the best way to find a co-founder for your startup? However, one of my co-founders doesn’t seem to be as motivated as the rest of us. Especially if you need to quickly choose someone.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.” Many experienced partners are funds have 7-10 boards and most of these will need more capital. The Laws of Supply & Demand. The most basic chart of microeconomics is a supply & demand curve. This is how VCs feel.

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Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. In many cases, one founder has started earlier and brings an important completed piece of work to the table, and that can have great value. Pre-existing intellectual property.

Intellectual Property 252

Intellectual Property Equity Cofounder CTO Hire 252

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. In many cases, one founder has started earlier and brings an important completed piece of work to the table, and that can have great value. Pre-existing intellectual property.

Equity 228

Equity Intellectual Property Cofounder CTO Hire 228

blog.expensify.com

APRIL 24, 2012

” I’m quite sure with this article you alienated not only few potential customers or partners but also some existing ones. I once ran a startup company partnered with a US company. It was just the command shell that demanded backward slashes. March 25, 2011 at 7:16 pm. I will relish being right, and laugh at you.

Java 107

Java PHP Software Review Coder 107