Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2011

Hire your co-founder. Vested over 4 years. Truly treat them like a co-founder. Involve them in fund raising, hiring, strategy, etc. Most senior employees who join are given 2% if they join early. Maybe they get up to 10% if they joined REALLY early and were senior. Give them a large sum of equity.

Cofounder 393

Cofounder Founder Vesting Founder Vesting 393

Steve Blank

JULY 19, 2010

The customary vesting model has founders vest their stock over 4-years , and when the founding CEO gets in over their head the VC’s bring in professional management. They also know that most founding CEO’s don’t scale past the early stage. The New Founding CEO Vesting Model. It’s My Idea and Hard Work.

Vesting 251

Vesting Liquidity Event Venture Capital Founder Vesting 251

venturehacks.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

In practice, you raise money or hire an employee because you need to, not because you want to. Say the equity equation tells you to pay a prospective hire above market. You should still pay the hire a market rate and save the company some equity. Say the equity equation tells you to pay a prospective hire below market.

Equity 40

Equity Cap Table Valuation RSS 40

venturehacks.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Breakups are hard If you’re going to fall out with your co-founder, do it early, recover the equity into the option pool to keep the company going, and recruit someone else great to fill the missing slot. Build in founder vesting (a.k.a. Geeks can always be hired. look for co-founder or co-founders.

Cofounder 101

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 101