Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2011

Or the Cliff Note’s version: Open Source & Cloud Computing (led by Amazon) drove down tech startup costs by 90%. The result was a massive increase in startups & a whole group of new funding sources: both angels & “micro VCs&#. The series started here if you want to read from the start.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation Angel Investor 289

nikcub.appspot.com

MARCH 8, 2012

Finding a Technical Co-Founder. In the recent weeks, I have also had no less than three people email me and ask about finding a technical co-founder, which has also been a very frequent topic on the Hacker News forums. This can often lead to introductions to suitable people, or into networks where you can find a technical co-founder.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Web Founder South Korea 40

Steve Blank

JUNE 12, 2020

Team Election Watch – Open Source Tool to Track Political Influence Campaigns. Recognizing the ability of these teams to produce real results, 38 members of the venture and private equity community dialed in to these presentations. Tom Bedecarré the founder and CEO of AKQA, the leading digital advertising agency.

Oakland 301

Oakland Asia Lean Video 301

blog.captainrecruiter.com

MARCH 8, 2012

Technical Co-Founders Are A Myth. Two years ago I got the bug to do an online recruiting startup and I began the hunt to find a technical co-founder - a software engineer who works for no cash - to help me build my dream website. I learned something: technical co-founders are a myth. Captain Recruiter. Real Advice. No Nonsense.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Founder Software Engineering 40

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders? V: Should you raise venture capital from a traditional equity VC or a Revenue-Based Investing VC?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

In spite of this, private equity funds have used the rallying cry of efficiency to hijack corporate strategy and loot the profits that historically would have been reinvested into research and development and new products. If they don’t, then the management team has simply become caretakers of the founders’ legacy.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

SoCal CTO

APRIL 8, 2010

- 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. It’s not a surprise that the most common questions that we get from other founders are about PR.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup PR Exit Strategy 150

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. Also see Preqin’s Key Due Diligence Considerations for Private Equity Investors. . VC and private equity are very illiquid on both the investing and the personnel side. So assessing fit is critical.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Partner 60

www.cscyphers.com

MARCH 8, 2012

Tutorial Day At #RailsConf » Why Trying To Find A Technical Co-Founder Will Almost Always Fail. Last night, I went to a local “find a co-founder” meetup for RE. What It Takes To Recruit A Technical Co-Founder. Particularly if she is at what is essentially a co-founder speed dating event.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Technical Review Founder Software Review 40

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

So even within the “alternative class&# our LPs are looking at other asset investment choices such as distressed buyout funds, private equity or hedge funds. You don’t need to buy expensive software – there are free open source solutions for nearly everything. VC will shrink. Oh yes it will.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 18, 2014

Founder.org founder Michael Baum. In Paris today at the World Founder Forum he announced the top 10 student team winners who split $1 million in seed money prizes. Nobody wanted equity in startup. We weren’t open source, but we appealed to the open source mindset. The bubble had burst.

Founder 60

Founder Entrepreneur North America Startup 60

Austin Startup

JULY 23, 2010

No, not related to the famous Wendy’s founder.) Not surprisingly, given his background, Dave built the technology on an open source stack for the infrastructure and incorporated from the very beginning the framework for a robust administrative component that would allow the service to scale as large as needed.

Sweat Equity 60

Sweat Equity Technical Review Software Review Austin 60

David Teten

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

I wrote recently about Should you raise venture capital from a traditional equity VC or a Revenue-Based Investing VC? Some firms provide tools to do this online, e.g., Capital ’s Cost of Equity estimator ; Lighter Capital’s Cost of Capital Calculator ; 645 Ventures’ cap table simulator. Revenue-based investing VC.

SBIC 60

SBIC SBA Cap Table Database 60

Altgate

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

But did you know that founder Markus Frind has just 3 employees for his $10MM+ revenue business? For example, you can barter for a service or you can negotiate payment terms or even equity for service. The best early PR is a product that people actually love plus a genuine story to tell from the founder. To that I say baloney.

Software Review 65

Software Review Offshore Startup Boston 65

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Who Uses a Consulting CTO I’m going to focus on the needs of the founders of startup companies: Founders of startups use a consulting CTO when they have business vision but limited knowledge of the technology needed to launch their company. And finally, you may be able to avoid diluting your equity.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Fractional VPE 40

Version One Ventures

AUGUST 23, 2017

There’s great promise to build large scale platforms to run open source projects among other things. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, analyzed the pros and cons of the various token sale models. Is it a usage token or equity token? But how exactly will these platforms be organized? His conclusion? Leadership.

Management 132

Management Government Cofounder Equity 132

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

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . In the private equity universe, most Partners have primary training as deal-makers, not as managers. 4Degrees helps leverage your network for sourcing. This is harder than it sounds.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. The result is that many venture capital firms are now making smaller angel investments in an attempt to get close with startup founders that are likely to raise bigger funding rounds later on. Angel rounds also tend to close quicker.

Angel Investor 84

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 84

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

In the last year, there has been a resurgence of interest, some say a bubble, by both angels and VCs, in a pre-Series A kicker to identify promising startups with seed funding, before major equity has been given away. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone. Lean startup.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. The result is that many venture capital firms are now making smaller angel investments in an attempt to get close with startup founders that are likely to raise bigger funding rounds later on. Angel rounds also tend to close quicker.

Angel Investor 83

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 83

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

We went with equity because ivestors would prefer to get equity for the following reasons: 1. One of the reasons notes have become so popular is that the equity documents were too expensive. This is all built into a typical founder stock purchase agreement. This is great.simplified funding/founders docs out of the box.

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2011

In the last year, there has been a resurgence of interest, some say a bubble, by both angels and VCs, in a pre-Series A kicker to identify promising startups with seed funding, before major equity has been given away. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone. Lean startup.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

K9 Ventures

MARCH 23, 2011

I may be well be in the minority in the Valley to think this way — especially so as a seed stage investor — but I have a strong preference for doing priced equity rounds for funding companies at any stage. An uncapped convertible note misaligns the incentives between the founders and the investors/note holders.

Pre-Money Valuation 132

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Equity Liquidation Preference 132

Software By Rob

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Im a serial web entrepreneur here to share what Ive learned in my 11 years as a self-funded startup founder. Follow me Startups for the Rest of Us. If youre trying to grow your startup youve come to the right place. Luckily several thousand people have decided to stick around and join the conversation.

Software Review 47

Software Review Software San Francisco RSS 47

discuss.joelonsoftware.com

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

where I can learn about how to build a sweat equity team? where I can learn about how to build a sweat equity team? Rather, it is a proposal for sweat-equity investors. Equity partners need to have a hand in guiding the enterprise. I intend to rewrite my internal 50-page business plan into an investors proposal.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Angel Investor Affiliate 40

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 2, 2010

Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR). Then we’ll open source these and evangelize them across the startup world, at least in the US. TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents (by Cooley). Series Seed Financing Documents (by Fenwick & West).

Finance 133

Finance Term Sheet Angel Investor Early Stage 133

Gust

JULY 8, 2012

In the last year, there has been a resurgence of interest, some say a bubble, by both angels and VCs, in a pre-Series A kicker to identify promising startups with seed funding, before major equity has been given away. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone. Lean startup.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 177

Steve Blank

JULY 20, 2015

My guests on Bay Area Ventures on Wharton Business Radio on Sirius XM Channel 111 were: Errol Arkilic , former program director for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps), now founder of M34 Capital. And since I open source everything I do, you were the recipient of open source.

Government 120

Government Channel Southern California Lean 120

mashable.com

MAY 5, 2011

“Once that product is built, you will probably have given away a lot of equity.&# “Once that product is built, you will probably have given away a lot of equity.&# In exchange for $150,000 to $300,000 of work, each startup has given Kayweb 14% to 40% equity.

Equity 74

Equity Engineer Technical Review Social Media 74

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 7, 2007

But when done well it can really help get a company going fast, professionally and without the founders having to give up much (if any) equity - or bankrupting themselves. The founders may believe they are onto such a good idea that they don’t want to give up any equity. Why bootstrap?

Bootstrapping 41

Bootstrapping Offshore Startup EC2 41

The Equity Kicker

OCTOBER 8, 2015

This advice is from a 2008 post by Jason Calacanis (hat tip Founders Notebook ): 4. In fact, given the amount of open source and off the shelf software out there, combined with the large number of developers in the world, anyone can bolt these things on to their service in a week or three.

Open Source 60

Open Source Social Network Advertising Founder 60

www.virtuosimedia.com

MARCH 8, 2012

This article should also serve as a starting guide for programmers who are approached about becoming technical co-founders. However, I would consider working at a discounted rate for equity in an idea that I believed showed merit and profitability potential. This is an instant deal-breaker. Titles and responsibilities. Exit strategies.

Technical Cofounder 41

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Technical Review NDA 41

The Equity Kicker

OCTOBER 2, 2014

Our other category of investment is ‘idea stage’, often with solo-founders.). We got to know David Gildeh, the CEO and one of three co-founders, around this time last year. That means they are up and running and on a 12-18 month path to their Series A. The starting point with this one was the team.

Cofounder 95

Cofounder Continuous Deployment Seed Stage Cloud 95

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

This morning I was reading from the OSF Playbook about how they have built an ‘open source decision making model’ for investing in deep science startups. A model can be tuned to give any answer its author wants and founders often question why investors want to see them. There are two interesting things about this.

Open Source 60

Open Source Acquisition Cost Founder 60

The Startup Lawyer

MARCH 11, 2010

A variety of model startup seed funding docs have been released in the past year or so: TechStars Series AA Preferred , YCombinator Series AA Preferred , and TheFunded Founder Institute’s Plain Preferred. Myth #3: Standardized Docs = Open Source Law. It’s difficult to do this unless you do this frequently.

Delaware 49

Delaware Hockey Stick Preferred Stock Open Source 49

The Startup Lawyer

MARCH 11, 2010

A variety of model startup seed funding docs have been released in the past year or so: TechStars Series AA Preferred , YCombinator Series AA Preferred , and TheFunded Founder Institute’s Plain Preferred. Myth #3: Standardized Docs = Open Source Law. It’s difficult to do this unless you do this frequently.

Delaware 45

Delaware Hockey Stick Preferred Stock Open Source 45