SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

I was asked by a reader how much equity he should give out to early employees and to service providers in a very early stage startup. Founders vs. Early Employees To help with this discussion, let me start with a definition of "early employee." Same Value for Sweat Equity as Investment Dollars?

Early Stage 391

Early Stage Equity CTO Hire Sweat Equity 391

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

The use of a cap table for a company comes into play when it has to track the total amount of shares, the value of shares, and the equity ownership of all the shareholders. The data of the company, such as debt and the company’s equity ownership, is laid out with the help of a cap table. Convertible notes. Example of a cap table.

Cap Table 112

Cap Table Pre-Money Valuation Stock Options Option Pool 112

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

5) High Productivity: Kayak had 148 employees at the end of 2010. That means that Kayak generates roughly $1.15M in revenue for each employee which puts it in the same league as Google and Apple (both >$1M/head). Pre-IPO Funding History: Kayak has raised approximately $235M in VC funding to date. Series B Preferred.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 7, 2017

But employee option pool is important enough that I wanted to briefly expand upon my comment above. While you should expect these sorts of hires to take below market cash comp versus what Google is paying them, this tradeoff needs to be replaced with equity upside.

Equity 94

Equity Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Founder 94

venturehacks.com

OCTOBER 21, 2010

SUPPORTED BY Products Archives @venturehacks Books AngelList About RSS The Option Pool Shuffle by Nivi on April 10th, 2007 “Follow the money card!&# – The Inside Man, Three-Card Shuffle Summary: Don’t let your investors determine the size of the option pool for you. Don’t lose this game.

Option Pool 68

Option Pool Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Warrant 68

ithacaVC

DECEMBER 13, 2013

There are many reasons for this, but fundamentally, it is impossible to calculate a share price for the investment round unless you have complete agreement on how many shares are outstanding pre-money. The share price is calculated by taking the pre-money valuation and dividing it by the number of shares outstanding pre-money.

Cap Table 67

Cap Table Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Liquidation Preference 67

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

The investors and the entrepreneurs are – or should be – aware that the price of the company’s equity is set by the market – in simplest terms, what an informed buyer is willing to pay.   You can vary both valuation and term-sheet assumptions (in the gray boxes) to assess the impact on the values of the business.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68