Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Quick summary: Be careful not to have too many co-founders. I don’t think VCs care as much about co-founders & economics as people think. Your first sales people should be consultative sellers who can fuel evangelical sales. Don’t hire “relationship management” sales people too early.

Cofounder 388

Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 388

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Depending on the composition of the founding team, you might or might not have near-term holes in certain functions at the exec level – e.g. you’ll most likely need to bring on a CTO/VP of Engineering shortly after the seed round if you don’t have a technical co-founder. The post Pitch Deck Month: The “Where Are You Going?

Part-Time VPE 195

Part-Time VPE Seed Stage CTO Hire Forecast 195

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 20, 2020

insert founder number] of the founders dropped out of [insert Ivy League school]. Construction, utilities, transportation, retail, finance, insurance and real estate startups are industries that hit hardest on startups with an average failure rate among them of 40%. Why We Are In Love With Startups?

Sweat Equity 107

Sweat Equity Non-Compete Startup Azure 107

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2013

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals.

Bootstrapping 252

Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Technical Review 252

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Entrepreneur Homepage Startups Starting a Business Home How-To Guides Startup Basics Business Ideas Business Planning Startup Financing Success Stories Home-Based Business Starting a Business Play Video How to Take a New Product from Just an Idea to a Business (Video). Financing Some Jobs Act Proposals Make Headway. July 31, 2007 |.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

I read commentary or Twitter or blogs and realize that there are also strongly held convictions that there are these evil VCs who do terrible things to mostly altruistic founders. But unlike the popular press reporting of this conflict — 80% of the time it is founder-to-founder conflict and not investor-to-founder conflict.

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Deciding whether to increase money or trade equity in the business for much needed assistance, could be a tough call. I raised money and traded equity, but with my venture, I had to make one of the toughest decisions, to build it with some assistance of co-founders. Find the right co-founders.

Cofounder 124

Cofounder Sweat Equity Equity Dilution 124

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

This structure offers some of the benefits of traditional equity VC, without some of the negatives of equity VC. I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 14, 2019

It is estimated that at least 80% of all startups rely on personal funds from their founders for operations, albeit in their formative stages. If you have been self-employed, you probably have had episodes where you cannot clearly differentiate between work and personal finances or time. What’s the difference? 1. Savings.

Balance Sheet 126

Balance Sheet Limited Liability Company Bootstrapping Startup 126

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 31, 2020

First, an example of grant-based financing . No dilution to shareholders or the founders. A company like this grows in value to its customers and to prospective buyers of the business, but without any dilution of control or ownership for the founders. How refreshing! How grants are considered. Other sources of grants.

Equity 62

Equity Finance Dilution Founder 62

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Of course, not every equity compensation story is a David Choe Story. If you’re thinking about extending equity to an employee or a vendor (as in the example above), you should know that the topic is multi-faceted. In this article, I’m going to examine: What equity compensation is. Different types of equity compensation.

Equity 60

Equity Employee Stock Options Vesting 60

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

Forms of funding. ? Equity investment. Equity investment is the most popular and most talked-about avenue for startup funding. These investments are made instead of shares or equity in your startup. Instead of funding, you pay the investors a structured royalty, which is a portion of the sales. Equity investors.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals.

Sweat Equity 255

Sweat Equity Technical Review Entrepreneur Bootstrapping 255

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals.

Sweat Equity 239

Sweat Equity Technical Review Bootstrapping Equity 239

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 20, 2020

We wish we were the founders, experiencing this testosterone-fueled melodrama of success. All while the majority of the economy is driven greatly by boring industries often owned by private equity, not venture capital. Why We Are In Love With Startups? Without demand, startups falter and ultimately fail.

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Non-Compete Startup Azure 78

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

This article highlights their advice on issues ranging from financing to patent trolls: While startups may believe lawyers are too costly, working with one early on avoids potentially serious problems later. They also need to decide whether to structure terms as an equity deal or a convertible security deal. Convertible Securities.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. According to one study a decade ago, only 45% of founders plan to exit after stage one, and my guess is that less than half the remainder survive the next stage in their own company. There is no free lunch.

Mezzanine 368

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 368

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

When you accept outside money, particularly a private equity (PE) investment, however, that changes. In this article, I’ll provide some personal stories of how investors have navigated the balance between raising private equity capital and not losing control of their startup. You make all the decisions, when you want, how you want.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Employee Equity: How Much? The most common comment in this long and complicated MBA Mondays series on Employee Equity is the question of how much equity should you grant when you make a hire. And the amount of equity you need to grant to accomplish these hires is also an art and most certainly not a science.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

Startup Company Lawyer

AUGUST 31, 2012

Quick answer: convertible equity (or a convertible security) is convertible debt without the repayment feature at maturity or interest. ” In response, Seth Levine wrote a very thoughtful post on convertible debt versus equity. Fred Wilson has been openly critical of convertible debt , and prefers priced equity rounds.

Convertible Security 73

Convertible Security Equity Security Preferred Stock 73

Gust

DECEMBER 15, 2013

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals.

Bootstrapping 183

Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Technical Review 183

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

Doing Reference Checks on VCs “Try to speak to at least one founder that the investor has worked with in a failed investment. The Seed VC Decision Tree “If the market is attractive and there just isn’t great founder/market fit, we will be open minded as well. This is not always easy to do. ” (Rob Go).

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 28, 2010

Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup is the new book by David Cohen , founder and CEO of TechStars, and Brad Feld , managing director of Foundry Group. Below is his chapter, Avoid Co-Founder Conflict. A perennial favorite is to decide that each founder should own an equal share. Can any of us be fired?

Cofounder 128

Cofounder Founder Equity Dilution 128

Up and Running

AUGUST 30, 2021

Entrepreneurs have to get really comfortable with rejection, especially as a first-time founder. This is what most founders do. Angel investors, venture capital firms, accelerators, and (maybe) the newer equity crowdfunding will look to see if you have previous experience in startups. Solve the rest later.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Lean Colorado Engineer 132

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Here’s the punchline: if you run your company as if you have closed a VC equity financing round even though you actually closed a convertible debt round, you’ll be in much better shape when it comes time to raise your Series A financing. So why would you treat your debt investors (somewhat) like equity investors?

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Finance | Tuesdays. Sales & Marketing | Wednesdays. Financing a Small Business. Financing A Small Business. Personal Finance. SALES & MARKETING. Should You Share Equity with Consultants? Parker found that equity as compensation helped build loyalty to his company -- even among consultants.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2022

In a moment of crisis, you may be tempted to take on the first person expressing interest as a co-founder. You really need a partner who is complementary, and can tackle the operational roles, like marketing, finance, and sales. I’ll put in the money, if you put in the sweat equity.” Most startups can’t afford that.

Partner 351

Partner Cofounder Sweat Equity Startup 351

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

Many of his original investors still remember when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg first related his personal challenge to only eat meat that he killed himself, in an effort to learn sustainable farming and consume resources responsibly. Offer an attractive and viable investment equation. Display real commitment to a plan, with milestones.

Intellectual Property 352

Intellectual Property Equity Bootstrapping Valuation 352

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Finance | Tuesdays. Sales & Marketing | Wednesdays. Financing a Small Business. Financing A Small Business. Personal Finance. SALES & MARKETING. Will Work for Equity. Dave Graham Business Venture Capital Private Equity GlobalLogic Inc. Small Business Success | Mondays and Thursdays. Franchises.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

Hunter Walker

JUNE 10, 2016

These people are true founders and entrepreneurs just like any venture backed company. Do “likes” and “shares” turn into sales? But, based on our sales and the amount we we’re looking to raise, $60-$120K, it could have meant giving up over 40% equity. How did it all begin? MC: Oh wow.

Technical Review 50

Technical Review Equity SBA Software Review 50

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

After the recent announcement of the Series Seed Financing documents by Marc Andreesen, Brad Feld points out that there are now four sets of “open source&# equity seed financing documents: TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents (by Cooley). Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR).

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 7, 2017

by Hannah Sieber, co-founder and COO of EcoFlow Tech. My company, EcoFlow Tech, raised more than one million in sales and achieved our goals of getting customer feedback and generating buzz. However, having a high top-line sales numbers doesn’t necessarily mean you will hit your goals, or even that your campaign was a success.

Campaign 145

Campaign San Francisco Technical Review Flash 145

Hunter Walker

JUNE 10, 2016

These people are true founders and entrepreneurs just like any venture backed company. Do “likes” and “shares” turn into sales? But, based on our sales and the amount we we’re looking to raise, $60-$120K, it could have meant giving up over 40% equity. How did it all begin? MC: Oh wow.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Equity SBA Software Review 48

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Working for Equity Instead of Cash. has an article on service firms waiving their fees and instead taking equity in their clients. Interest in this waned when the Internet bust resulted in most tech start-up equity becoming worthless, but it seems to be coming back. Not all start-up stock is created equally.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 26, 2018

Most healthy businesses need business financing at some point. Startups have to deal with starting costs and ongoing businesses have to finance growth and working capital. Financing options depend on what kind of business you have. Don’t waste your time looking for the wrong kind of financing.

SBA 161

SBA Venture Capital Angel Investor Technical Review 161

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Series Seed Financing Documents Blog. Series Seed Financing Documents. Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Series Seed Financing Documents : 1 Reblog. We went with equity because ivestors would prefer to get equity for the following reasons: 1. SeriesSeed.com. Blog Archives. Thanks in advance!

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 25, 2018

Today, Mark Attanasio gets to flex his full range of expertise and interests as co-founder and Managing Partner of Hillcrest Merchant Partners, a Toronto-based merchant bank focused on early stage and mid market growth companies. Mark Attanasio: Financing can be an ongoing, underlying issue, but there are so many speed bumps on the way.

Partner 113

Partner Technical Review Management Due Diligence 113