Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. And you can often throw in a separate action like approving stock-option grants, getting approval for CAPEX spend, discussing fund raising timing – whatever.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 26, 2020

Startup lawyers can help you decide on which structure is the best for you based on your finances, plans and goals. Some of these potential issues can include: profit sharing, equity splits, decision-making, and division of responsibilities. Partnership Agreements. to resolve future conflicts. to resolve future conflicts.

Intellectual Property 150

Intellectual Property Startup SEC Stock Options 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs. In finance they call it “terminal value” but the truth is the price is as arbitrary at your A round as it is at your seed round. Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? Stock Option plans.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

The first milestone in a new startup’s financing is called ‘Seed Capital’ which refers to the initial investment raised by the founders from their friends and family, or commonly referred to as FFF (Friends, Family and Founders), who mostly use their personal assets. *The Convertible Debt Financing. Raising Seed Capital.

Finance 93

Finance Accredited Investor Angel Investor Seed Capital 93

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 26, 2018

Having secured external investment a business and ensured all potential roadblocks to investment are alleviated, startups are then subject to options trading looking to get in on the action. While capital finance investors often have a much longer term outlook for a business, option traders are the opposite, looking for short-term gains.

Stock 166

Stock Stock Options Startup Security 166

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

He wants a chance at changing life’s circumstances with building equity value that might free him and his family from the rat-race of 529 accounts, property taxes, summer-school tuitions and even spending some cash on aging parents. He still has the dream. He has the hunger. I’m not saying it’s even desirable.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley IP 150

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 12, 2009

Any company that raises venture financing will need to be a C corp in order to issue preferred stock. If founders want the benefit of flow through tax treatment with respect to losses prior to an outside financing, an S corp election may make sense as long as there are no entity or non-U.S. such as incentive stock options.

LLC 61

LLC Stock Options Preferred Stock Stock 61

The Next Web

AUGUST 12, 2013

I started my company with 5 friends – one developer, one user interface designer, one visual designer, one marketing person, and a finance person. A business/finance person. When it comes to equity, be fair. Founders don’t necessarily need to become managers also. agreeing to the wrong investment terms).

Cofounder 119

Cofounder CTO Hire Startup Europe 119

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 6, 2016

There are many legal steps to follow while financing your business. Whatever you choose, use tax-deferred growth in accounts to create wealth to finance the capital fund for your venture. Add employee stock options if you have exercised any. Which Finance Technique to Utilize?

LLC 100

LLC Stock Options Finance Salary 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

Often when startups who have raised venture capital need another round of financing they will turn to their existing investors to give them money before raising from outsiders. a loan) that is later converted to equity at the time of the next financing. It starts as a debt instrument (e.g.

Startup 290

Startup Burn Rate Warrant Bankruptcy 290

Gust

JULY 18, 2012

Yet I’ve rarely seen entrepreneurs more fired up than when recounting war stories of startups whose founders had control of the company wrested from them, were forced to take financing or compensation deals on outrageously onerous terms , or worst of all, fired from their own companies.

Stock Options 188

Stock Options SEC Stock Government 188

The Next Web

MARCH 2, 2014

Instead, honestly analyze the company’s business plan and finances to determine whether the business needs to secure outside funding in order to achieve its objectives, and if so, how much. Should we finance with debt or equity? This is the ultimate question to consider when weighing funding options. Take your time.

Liquidity Event 139

Liquidity Event Equity Finance Stock Options 139

Scott Edward Walker

APRIL 9, 2012

Introduction We are in the golden age of seed financing. Venture capital funds, seed funds, super angels, angel groups, incubators, and “friends and family” are all playing the seed financing game and investing early in startups in an attempt to land the next Facebook. A convertible note is short-term debt that converts into equity.

Preferred Stock 87

Preferred Stock Finance Common Stock Liquidation Preference 87

The Next Web

JUNE 15, 2012

From Silicon Valley to Peoria, Illinois, cash-strapped startups look for inventive way to finance their business – often handing out equity to employees, consultants, vendors, and other service providers. Pitfalls in sharing equity. While equity can be a great tool for compensating early on, the drawbacks are significant.

Equity 116

Equity Stock Options Vesting Stock 116

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs. In finance they call it “terminal value” but the truth is the price is as arbitrary at your A round as it is at your seed round. Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? But lawyers will charge much more for equity.”

Liquidation Preference 153

Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet Stock 153

www.payne.org

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Startup Equity For Employees. 2 Stock Classes: Common and Preferred. 5 Stock vs Options. 6 Founders / Restricted Stock. 7 Salary vs Equity. Important disclaimer: Ive got experience negotiating stock compensation packages from both sides of the table. Salary vs Equity. From Payne.org Wiki.

Equity 56

Equity Employee Vesting Preferred Stock 56

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Entrepreneurs and investors who have spent any time dealing with convertible debt seed financing transactions are likely to have encountered the subject of valuation caps. The cap is irrelevant if the next equity financing is at a valuation below the cap amount.) These options were granted shortly after MySpace, Inc.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Gust

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Readers can anticipate my next point in continuing the analogy: It makes no more sense for a non-lawyer to prepare fundamental legal, governance, equity and intellectual property documents than it would for a patient to self-diagnose and begin taking prescription-strength antibiotics or other medications. Newco, Inc.”) Newco, Inc.”)

Intellectual Property 139

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Delaware Stock 139

Feld Thoughts

JULY 13, 2011

And more and more entrepreneurs who I’m exposed to who are presenting their companies for financing have a complete lack of understanding of their financials – both current and projected. If you understand how to read the financial statements, then you can start to solve for the GAAP challenges.

Balance Sheet 147

Balance Sheet Stock Options .Net Equity 147

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 28, 2022

With the rise of startups and growing businesses , it has become more critical for investors to have a thorough understanding of equity to be aware of all of the advantages they are receiving from the companies they have invested in. What is Company Equity? Types of equity. Common stock. Preferred shares.

Valuation 108

Valuation Equity Warrant Common Stock 108

Berkonomics

AUGUST 27, 2015

They financed their companies, to the extent possible, in a manner minimizing the cost of capital, planning for organic growth in the number of customers served and in associated revenues. Flippers financed by venture capitalists are more likely to hire executives having high level profiles and previous exit experience.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Balance Sheet Stock Options Valuation 48

ithacaVC

JUNE 20, 2011

2. You need (or think you need) a stock option plan: granting stock options (and other forms of equity compensation to employees like restricted stock) should be done under a written equity incentive plan. You might be doing a convertible debt round or an equity round.

Stock Options 58

Stock Options Vesting Subscription Agreement Founder Vesting 58

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. For angel groups, the distinction between groups and VCs on this issue is dwindling, especially as angel groups do bigger rounds of financing.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

ithacaVC

DECEMBER 13, 2013

They are typically pretty simple: (i) shares owned by founders and (ii) shares authorized for issuance in a stock option pool, some of which may be issued to employees already and some of which will be available for future issuance. If no additional equity is ever granted to Founder X and Founder Y, then Founder Y will ALWAYS own 1.63

Cap Table 67

Cap Table Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Liquidation Preference 67

ithacaVC

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

I am not even sure what “undiluted stock” is, but safe to say the person (I will call him Exec X) meant stock that his equity would not be dilutable in terms of ownership. For example, let’s say Exec X is asking for 10% of the fully diluted cap table via a stock grant or option grant that is non-dilutable.

Dilution 53

Dilution Employee Cap Table Stock 53

www.copelandfirm.com

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Home About Fee Arrangements Location Referrals Testimonials Business Law HUB Certification Mergers & Acquisitions Startup Advice Intellectual Property Copyrights Trademarks Securities Law Debt and Bridge Financing Series A Startup Law Entity Formation Corporation LLC Series LLC RSS Founders Shares: How do you split them up?

Intellectual Property 40

Intellectual Property Founder Vesting Bridge Financing 40

Startup Company Lawyer

JULY 20, 2009

If there is more than one founder, the likelihood of an argument about how the equity should be split in the new company increases dramatically. Incorporating a company and issuing stock to the founders will help prevent misunderstandings among the founders about equity splits. Issuing stock options.

IP 67

IP Stock Options Preferred Stock Capital Gains 67

ithacaVC

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

The MCOP can serve a critical role as founders and other management team members are diluted down by rounds of financing or if their equity is not in the money. Also, if the preferred stock carries a multiple liquidation preference (like 2X), then the ALP will obviously be more than the original purchase price.

Liquidation Preference 55

Liquidation Preference Management Preferred Stock Dividend 55

www.quora.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Type to Add and Search Questions; Search Topics and People Startups Startup Compensation Entrepreneurship Compensation Stock Options Major Internet Companies Silicon Valley Why is there such a large founder to early employee equity drop-off? This ties into this Paul Graham article: [link] /equity. This answer.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

I’ll focus for now on the business itself, there’s plenty of other info on the web if you care to understand the equity ownership or financing history of Facebook and frankly this has been fairly well known for awhile. ==. Here’s my first look at Facebook viewed through the lens of their IPO filing. Facebook, Inc.

IPO 100

IPO South Korea Venezuela Revenue 100

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

And as the company grows, it brings on new people and may decide to issue stock options to attract new staff and funding from investors. 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.

Cap Table 112

Cap Table Pre-Money Valuation Stock Options Option Pool 112

ithacaVC

APRIL 29, 2011

Joe is CEO/Leader, Lisa is tech/science and Steve handles finance and marketing. Specifically, you don’t want one founder to leave the business (for any reason) with his/her full equity slug and simply thereafter benefit (i.e., For purposes of this post, the roles are actually irrelevant.

Vesting 53

Vesting Cofounder Stock Options Stock 53

Ben's Blog

APRIL 21, 2010

Six Months Later… Fast-forward six months and everyone in the company is wondering why the sales (or marketing or finance or product) guy who has produced nothing got such a monster stock option package. Meanwhile, the people doing all the work have much fewer options. Beware of equity being the primary motivation.

Stock Options 78

Stock Options Restful Hiring Sales 78

venturehacks.com

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Reading on, the term sheet states, “The $8 million pre-money valuation includes an option pool equal to 20% of the post-financing fully diluted capitalization.&# As your lawyer explains that the so-called pre-money valuation always includes a large unallocated option pool for new employees, your stomach sinks.

Option Pool 68

Option Pool Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Warrant 68

venturehacks.com

MARCH 21, 2008

Advisor compensation Whether you’re hiring a normal advisor or super advisor: Advisory shares are usually issued as common stock options. The options typically vest monthly over 1-2 years with 100% single-trigger acceleration and no cliff. If you pay in equity, you pay once and keep getting served ad infinitum.

Advisory Board 44

Advisory Board Cap Table Vesting Equity 44

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

You have your general management meeting and in your general management meeting you talk about product development, about marketing and about finance. After that, I did it for a private equity firm then we became a part of a larger corporation. How do you split equity? It’s bundled in different groups. Edwin: I know.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Startup Company Lawyer

MAY 1, 2009

CompStudy publishes an annual report of equity and cash compensation that provides compensation data on top management positions and Boards of Directors at private companies in technology and life sciences. For example, below are the 2008 results for average equity granted at time of hire in IT companies: CEO 5.40%.

Stock Options 31

Stock Options CTO Hire Equity 31