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. There is often money to be made in finding places with under-valued IP. He still has the dream.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley IP 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

Although their book is written for businesses of all sizes, I believe the principles apply especially to startups as follows: To increase return on equity invested. All strategic and business thinking must lead to immediate action to increase sales and profitability potential, relative to your competition. Intellectual property (IP).

Intellectual Property 231

Intellectual Property Startup IP Finance 231

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Since I am a proponent of using equity as a tool and he is so much opposed, this week it is his turn to make the case. These are your candidates, because they are companies already absorbing much or all the marketing expense necessary to make sales of your invention. Do I understand the royalty replaces the need for equity investors ?

IP 48

IP Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Product 48

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 14, 2011

“Increasingly, attention is shifting from established Western markets to our part of the world, and we believe Asia will increasingly drive venture capital and private equity activities in the future,” says Eugene Wong, chairman of the Singapore Venture Capital Association (SVCA). ” The flow is not limited to money as well.

Singapore 198

Singapore Technical Review Technology Incubator 198

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Gross margin (GM) is the amount of profit you make per sale of your product or service taking into account your total costs of selling that product or service. If you have a very low gross margin (10-30%) it can be very hard to build a large, scalable business because you need to make a lot of sales to cover your operating costs.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

Hunter Walker

MAY 13, 2023

Sometimes you’d even get lucky and receive stock in the acquirer, which was how I gained pre-IPO equity in high growth stars like Pinterest and Facebook. I was on both sides of these transactions – buying startups for Google/YouTube and angel investing in high quality technical founders.

Early Stage 117

Early Stage Cap Table Acquisition Sales 117

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

You never got around to agreeing exact equity splits but you had many conversations about it. Shame about not getting it in legal writing that you owned the original IP. Consider it a sales & marketing expense for them. But if you can stomach that he’s a star and contingency work / risk sharing on IP claims is key!

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

Defensible IP When I’m asked by newer, younger VC partners for advice on our sector, one of the things I always emphasize is looking for companies who have built defensible intellectual property (IP). If I use Invoca as an example: we handle tens of millions of phone calls for customers who want to drive sales calls into call centers.

IP 223

IP Intellectual Property IRR Cofounder 223

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

You just don't wind up with $25 million to name a dorm unless you've gotten equity upside in something. I've been thinking a lot about what an innovation-friendly school looks like and have a few thoughts--and it doesn't just mean building labs or creating more flexible IP licensing schemes.

Incubator 118

Incubator .Net Cofounder Software Developers 118

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

Early in a services business there is usually no profits as the company reinvests in hiring people to grow, but by $20 million in sales the company should at least be pulling in 10% profits (if not more) depending on how much is reinvested. You own the IP you create. That is $12 million in profits over 3 years. It’s pure irony.

Silicon Valley 332

Silicon Valley IP Dividend Finance 332

Hippoland

APRIL 10, 2016

Ada is my professor, and we are using her lab, and the company is based on her research, though the IP is assigned to the company. We are trying to decide how much equity to allocate to each person. I would like to split the equity equally, since it seems only fair. But, we’re going to be doing all the work!

Cofounder 48

Cofounder Cap Table Equity Vesting 48

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

They’re looking to be paid properly in the context of the overall salary structure, including cash, benefits, and equity, and to be paid commensurate with performance. If you’ve been in the sales game, you know that most customers will sell themselves if you just let them. You’ll just never create the sales momentum you need.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

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. Specifically it would benefit from a clause nullifying these drag-along rights in case of a proposed sale to a preferred-affiliated entity.

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Instead of hearing from your long lost third-cousin, you will be inundated with an avalanche of ‘congratulatory’ emails, calls and letters from people who want to relieve you of the burden of your hard-earned equity round. Such positions include: PR, Sales, Product Development, Lead Generation, Strategic Planning, Fund Raising, etc.

Equity 40

Equity Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 40

David Teten

MAY 16, 2011

Joe Chernesky, Vice President and General Manager of Global Licensing Sales, Intellectual Ventures. Kupietzky held a variety of management roles in marketing, sales and product management at world-class technology companies: Digital Insight (Intuit), Loudcloud/Opsware (Hewlett-Packard) and Siebel Systems (Oracle).

Naming 122

Naming Government Intellectual Property LLC 122

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

It’s nice to have protected IP, but that will mostly matter later on in the event of an acquisition. As the founder, you’re the number one sales person of the company and it is not a function you can outsource right away. If you’re not good in sales, either get training or get a co-founder/advisor who is.

Elevator Pitch 102

Elevator Pitch Incubator Technical Review Startup 102

Scalable Startup

MARCH 7, 2012

Investor groups are cutting out the management, bus dev, sales, and marketing professionals, trying to get raw, young engineering teams that have never negotiated a term sheet to give away their IP rights and equity for next to nothing. Some of these projects will produce amazing companies.

Software Review 26

Software Review Technical Review Los Angeles Due Diligence 26

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Note that many of the recommendations include sales / promotions in red font to capture more attention. million in sales pipeline influenced. Imagine you receive an email from your bank about refinancing and home equity loans. In-App Messaging and Onboarding from Evergage. Here’s what they did… Image Source.

Web 48

Web Software Review Jordan Technical Review 48

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 31, 2013

By the time we sold to Level 3, our total proceeds to equity owners and management were $225M. In the sale to LVLT, we kept a portion of this office. Instead, we sought to provide raw fiber, wavelengths, ethernet, IP, and technical space to those entities that needed a whole lot of bandwidth. Nonetheless, I was out of a job.

Bandwidth 147

Bandwidth Colorado Startup IRR 147

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

Michael is a very accomplished corporate executive in his own right having run Sega Gameworks and helped IPO EuroDisney as well as having been on the founding team of DreamWorks SKG (where he helped them raise their first $900 million in equity). Woot was one of the first one-per-day item sales site with a humorous and not always PC content.

IPO 242

IPO Venture Capital Private Placement Cofounder 242

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

How iPad Magazine Sales Stack Up [REP. SCVNGR Makes Major Enhancements to iP. With an Early LPO, initial investment is a fraction of what it used to be for Angels and VCs to secure our services on behalf of their clients, in exchange for shares of the company, and the ability to invest further once their ticker symbol is live.

Angel Investor 83

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 83

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. Creating intellectual property. Issuing stock options.

IP 67

IP Stock Options Preferred Stock Capital Gains 67

ConversionXL

JUNE 2, 2022

Some see it as a sales tactic, while others view it as a content marketing strategy. Account-based marketing is an approach where marketing and sales work together to nurture target accounts and convert or retain customers. It needs perfect alignment from sales, marketing, and executive leaders across the organization.

Customer 98

Customer Marketing Channel Acquisition 98

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

The enterprise focus has a tough time showing their own IP versus the vertical business solutions have limited total addressable market. With no formal sales team, they are doing great with marquee names on their customer rooster. The cash inflow has helped them grow the team especially on sales and marketing. Substrate.ai

Austin 49

Austin Artificial Inteligence Startup Vertical 49

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

How iPad Magazine Sales Stack Up [REP. SCVNGR Makes Major Enhancements to iP. With an Early LPO, initial investment is a fraction of what it used to be for Angels and VCs to secure our services on behalf of their clients, in exchange for shares of the company, and the ability to invest further once their ticker symbol is live.

Angel Investor 84

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 84

Scott Edward Walker

JUNE 23, 2011

Not only are there key contractual issues that must be buttoned-down (like vesting and IP assignment ), but also there is a minefield of laws and regulations that must be complied with. Introduction I love working with startups – and trying to protect founders and watch their backs.

Accredited Investor 82

Accredited Investor Sweat Equity Los Angeles Finder 82

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.   Note that this applies only to earl stage Series A-type equity financings and assumes no cash dividends are paid to investors.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 10, 2013

If you cannot afford to hire the individuals with key expertise you may need to bring them on as co-founders with an equity stake or hire a part-time, interim individual or company. Common types of IP rights include copyright, trademarks, patents , design rights, and trade secrets. Intellectual Property. Market Validation.

Angel Investor 55

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Seed Capital Advisory Board 55

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

If you cannot afford to hire the individuals with key expertise you may need to bring them on as co-founders with an equity stake or hire a part-time, interim individual or company. Common types of IP rights include copyright, trademarks, patents, design rights, and trade secrets. Intellectual property. Market Validation.

Intellectual Property 55

Intellectual Property Advisory Board Startup Seed Capital 55

blog.simeonov.com

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

It outlines key points of agreement between founders around IP ownership, equity ownership, vesting, etc. For example, without a clear vehicle (a company) to contribute intellectual property into, a founder who walks away may mean that the future company won’t own its own IP. Some get common equity for their investment.

Founder 44

Founder Vesting Agile Startup 44

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Do that – nothing else but one product / company / focus and get to $1M in sales with atleast $15% net profit. I also like to get a sale $$$ ASAP. Ideally you can pay them based + equity so that you’ll get their attention and focus on the project. We’re a mobile development firm looking to increase new client sales.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

grasshopperherder.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Piercing the Corporate Veil – Sweat Equity Consulting. But much like becoming a co-founder, getting paid sweat equity is essentially becoming an investor in the company. If you did, why would you be consulting for sweat equity instead of investing as a VC or for yourself? GrasshopperHerder.com. • ABOUT. Jan 20 -->.

Sweat Equity 41

Sweat Equity Equity Cofounder Non-Compete 41

www.metamorphblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Here’s how the pitch sounds from the engineer’s perspective: ‘For ten whole percent of equity, you will slave away to build a prototype out of my shitty idea, not have any say in the decision-making process…and oh yeah, you could be fired at any point.’ Date for a bit, then split the equity. Remember that.

Founder 51

Founder Startup Cofounder Vesting 51

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 15, 2020

Before venture, equity financing was seen as a pretty unfriendly business. These corporate raiders, and these leverage buyouts and this private equity hatchet bin. That's why I think that overall innovation has slowed, and a lot of start-ups are just business model innovations or sales, or operational angles.

Technical Review 68

Technical Review Software Review Finance Technology 68

crowdSPRING Blog

OCTOBER 27, 2013

Recently the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules to govern the upcoming changes in equity crowdfunding for startups and small businesses. Studies have shown that startups fail at a rate between 75% and 90%, so the risk to this new breed of small-time equity investors is real and it is critical that they be well-informed.

Small Business 92

Small Business Securities and Exchange Commission Social Media Startup 92

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

It became clear to me that the mission of marketing in most companies has to be to support sales. While this may seem obvious to anyone not in sales and marketing, trust me, in a technology company this is a conceptual breakthrough. But without sales there is no revenue, and without revenue there is no company.

Silicon Valley 126

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 126