Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2020

Every startup founder loves to prompt for questions from investors and potential key team members about their vision, and the huge opportunity that can be had with their disruptive technology. Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment.

Technical Review 436

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 436

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

Every startup founder loves to prompt for questions from investors and potential key team members about their vision, and the huge opportunity that can be had with their disruptive technology. Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment.

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

George Deeb is the Managing Partner at Chicago-based Red Rocket Ventures , a startup consulting and financial advisory firm based in Chicago. There are a lot of variables to go into calculating a fair equity split a startup team. So, a fair split, would be closer to 60/40 in favor of the funding founder, when diluted for the cash.

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Cofounder Equity Founder Seed Stage 136

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. Another common “failure to start” situation I see is one where the “idea person” insists that the idea is 90% of the value (and 90% of the equity). Pre-existing intellectual property.

Intellectual Property 252

Intellectual Property Equity Cofounder CTO Hire 252

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

It’s disconcerting for most to realize that these shares are initially worth nothing, and the challenge is to get that value up as quickly as possible, without losing it just as quickly to investors, lazy partners, and taxation. This is the purpose of a vesting schedule, which issues allocated stock over time.

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Stock .Net Vesting Founder Vesting 240

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Should you start a company solo or find co-founders to help you? The co-founder relationship dilemma.

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Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

How to Divide Equity to Startup Founders, Advisors, and Employees. The part that I’d like to zero in on is when you’ve got a high growth company what are some of the best practices out there to distribute equity to the founders, advisors, and employees? Equity for Founders. Equity for Employees.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 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

www.startuplessonslearned.com

MAY 4, 2012

Founders Dilemmas: Equity Splits. The following is an excerpt from HBS Professor Noam Wasserman’s new book, The Founders Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup. On average, the founders who keep the most control over their company make the least amount of money. Lessons Learned.

Equity 72

Equity Founder Technical Cofounder Cofounder 72

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2021

It’s disconcerting for most to realize that these shares are initially worth nothing, and the challenge is to get that value up as quickly as possible, without losing it just as quickly to investors, lazy partners, and taxation. This is the purpose of a vesting schedule, which issues allocated stock over time.

Vesting 298

Vesting Dilution Stock Founder Vesting 298

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

Here is the warning: The execution of equity allocations and of a good incentive program using equity is often mismanaged, damaging the corporate capitalization structure and even affecting the outcome of subsequent investment into the company. … Equity is divided between the founders and the business begun.

Equity 62

Equity Stock Options Vesting Early Stage 62

The Next Web

JULY 21, 2013

You have an awesome idea and a great co-founder with whom you want to work. Both of you work hard for the first couple of months until your partner decides to walk away for any reason. It’s your old partner asking for his $100 million because of the 50% you had agreed when both of you founded the company. Investing in vesting.

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Vesting Founder Chile Equity 143

The Next Web

OCTOBER 7, 2013

They were referring to non-founder engineers, most commonly the first hire for technology businesses. is frequently granted ownership significantly less than that of the founders. However, at the very early stage, they are taking as much risk with their future as the founders. Engineer #1?

Engineer 129

Engineer Dilution Option Pool Vesting 129

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. . But in business, you want a lot of partners. In the private equity universe, most Partners have primary training as deal-makers, not as managers. This is harder than it sounds.

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Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Arif Bhalwani is the co-founder and CEO of Third Eye Capital (TEC) in Toronto, Canada. The most poignant of these challenges was the quest for capital partners, which was not just about securing capital but about finding collaborators who were willing to believe in the vision and commit to the long-term journey.

Technical Review 132

Technical Review Due Diligence Bankruptcy Intellectual Property 132

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

Every startup founder loves to prompt for questions from investors and potential key team members about their vision, and the huge opportunity that can be had with their disruptive technology. Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2011

I covered what I call “the co-founder mythology.&# Either you’re not technical and you think you need a technical co-founder or vice-versa. It is increasingly popular to have “founder dating&# or “startup weekend hackathons&# of some variety or the other. Hire your co-founder. Vested over 4 years.

Cofounder 393

Cofounder Founder Vesting Founder Vesting 393

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Not surprisingly, the list above also is ranked from least to most equity stake in an investment for the investor, relative to the cash they invest. What are the terms of their relationship with the founder? How would one set up such a startup to eventually raise capital from outside VCs, who will be wary of ‘dead equity’ (i.e.,

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 24, 2012

The following is an excerpt from HBS Professor Noam Wasserman’s new book, The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup. The book taps Noam’s analyses of data on 10,000 founders, plus the personal stories of Evan Williams of Twitter, Tim Westergren of Pandora, and two dozen other founders.

Equity 168

Equity Founder Cofounder Vesting 168

venturehacks.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

SUPPORTED BY Products Archives @venturehacks Books AngelList About RSS How to pick a co-founder by Naval Ravikant on November 12th, 2009 Update : Also see our 40-minute interview on this topic. Picking a co-founder is your most important decision. One founder companies can work, against the odds (hello, Mark Zuckerberg).

Cofounder 101

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 101

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

Every startup founder loves to prompt for questions from investors and potential key team members about their vision, and the huge opportunity that can be had with their disruptive technology. Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Should You Share Equity with Consultants? To grow his cash-strapped start-up, Parker ended up sharing equity -- not only with employees, but also with consultants and vendors. Parker found that equity as compensation helped build loyalty to his company -- even among consultants. But sharing equity can have pitfalls, too.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

www.mattbartus.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Perspectives on issues affecting founders, startups and investors from a veteran startup lawyer in Silicon Valley. Equity for Consultants – Keep it Simple! posted Feb 3 in Equity , People issues. The most you lose is 1 or 2 months of vesting on the stock. A View from the Valley. Blog blog archive. Quora Answers.

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Equity Vesting Silicon Valley Intellectual Property 40

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. Make sure you treat people as partners, not as paid help. Equity partners need to have a hand in guiding the enterprise. The gist: 1.

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Sweat Equity Equity Angel Investor Affiliate 40

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.

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Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Partner 60

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

For those negotiating equity allocations it covers some of the most complex issues to address in the process. Here’s an example: First, a brand-new enterprise is often formed from the efforts of several “partners”, each with an expertise valued by the others. Equity is divided between the founders and the business begun.

Early Stage 102

Early Stage Equity Stock Options Vesting 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2013

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup Founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Should you start a company solo or find co-Founders to help you? The co-Founder relationship dilemma.

Founder 245

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 245

www.metamorphblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Home About Contact Home About Contact The Metamorphosis Becoming an Entrepreneur, by Matt Mireles Startup Lessons for the Proto-Founder I started SpeakerText in October 2008 during the financial apocalypse. You need a Co-Founder, not an Engineering Bitch. Date for a bit, then split the equity. No one funded us. Just go for it.

Founder 51

Founder Startup Cofounder Vesting 51

NZ Entrepreneur

MAY 27, 2019

If you are a solo founder, you may be able to do it all on your own initially but you’re making it very difficult for yourself. If you’re scared about giving up on control or equity, then read on. In my opinion, founders or early stage companies should only have a team of two or three people. This will never work.

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Technical Cofounder Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 64

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2018

Unfortunately, in my years since as a small business advisor, I have seen too many founders squander this asset through a lack of understanding of some basic legal and operational issues, or by handing out nominally “free” stock to the wrong people at the wrong time. Always specify a vesting period for new partners.

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Stock Vesting Preferred Stock Cofounder 129

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

” From the hyperbolic Jason Calacanis weighing in that “The petty VC’s did everything to deride [Naval, the co-founder of AngelList]” as though the industry was collectively s g its pants that AngelList was going to put us out of business. founder fighting. founder fighting. Both are right. and much more.

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Should you start a company solo or find co-founders to help you? The co-founder relationship dilemma.

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Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

www.instigatorblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Changing Equity Structures for Early Startup Employees Tweet Recently someone asked me for advice on how much equity they should give to their early employees. David Crow just posted about this very topic: Founders vs. Early Employees and shows the Venture Hacks chart. But I also told him that I though the numbers were wrong.

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Equity Employee Startup Vesting 41

Scott Edward Walker

JUNE 30, 2019

This week, we present Michael Seibel , CEO and a partner at Y Combinator. . In this brief video from a few weeks ago, Michael shares some solid advice with respect to how much equity to give your co-founder(s). The post How Much Equity Should You Give Your Cofounder? Cheers, Scott. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NhEBVPlJs4.

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Cofounder Equity Vesting Video 45

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2009

Yesterday I wrote a blog post ( here ) in which I urged people to not have too many founders. To be clear – it is not about being stingy with or hoarding equity – it is about having a prenuptial agreement. - What if the person performs OK, but not great and you need to hire above him? They agreed to all be co-founders.

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Founder Cofounder Equity Stock Options 251

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2015

It’s disconcerting for most to realize that these shares are initially worth nothing, and the challenge is to get that value up as quickly as possible, without losing it just as quickly to investors, lazy partners and taxation. This is the purpose of a vesting schedule, which issues allocated stock over time.

Stock 120

Stock Vesting Common Stock Founder Vesting 120

Scalable Startup

OCTOBER 9, 2014

Talking to CEO and CTO about role as co-founder/COO. How much equity should I ask for? > You need to be positioned as an equal partner, regardless of equity or title. > > What are the terms of the equity, same class of shares as them? . > Vesting? > > Do you have another job?

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Cofounder Technical Cofounder Equity Vesting 20