Feld Thoughts

JULY 29, 2011

Finance Friday’s gets off the ground with today’s post by introducing you to an imaginary startup, the entrepreneurs that we’ll being following throughout the series, and their first challenges: splitting up the founders’ equity and addressing the case where one of the founders provides the initial seed capital for the business.

Equity 137

Equity Finance Denver Pre-Money Valuation 137

Feld Thoughts

JULY 15, 2012

Donna Harris, Startup America. Jerry Johnson, RLJ Equity. Shaun Johnson, Boston Startup School. And Taylor McLemore of Prediculous has also put in an incredible amount of work on this event on a volunteer basis. David Cohen, TechStars. Jared Polis, TechStars. Jason Seats, TechStars. Kwasi Asare, Moodlerooms.

Fractional CTO 145

Fractional CTO CTO Silicon Valley Oklahoma 145

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 28, 2011

Recently, Microsoft announced the Microsoft Kinect Accelerator , a program created to incubate startups building the next generation of innovative experiences for the Kinect. If accepted, each company will receive an equity investment of $20,000 in exchange for six percent of the company in common stock, which will be held by TechStars.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Common Stock Seattle Cofounder 134

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 8, 2022

Sometime in the fall, Matt Blumberg approached me about doing a 2nd Edition of Startup Boards. So when Mahendra Ramsinghani came out with the 1st Edition of Startup Boards in 2013, Matt gave me plenty of feedback on the book. Google Docs now has a surprising number of my started but unfinished books.

Equity 170

Equity Matching Video Startup 170

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 11, 2021

Enter Cleantech Open, the world’s largest and oldest cleantech accelerator for cleantech, climate tech, and sustainability startups. Through Cleantech Open, startups can build their entrepreneurship skills and professional networks, access expert mentorship, and connect with potential investors, partners, and customers.

Alabama 128

Alabama Equity Affiliate Incubator 128

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 7, 2019

During one of the Techstars Boston cohorts where I’ve been Mentor-in-Residence, I worked with a 20-something CEO founder (code named Mary) who, shortly after raising a seed round of several million dollars, hired a high-powered exec, granting a significant equity option. And this is critical as a mentor because startups are extremely hard.

Boston 118

Boston LP Startup Equity 118

Feld Thoughts

JULY 31, 2013

I’m intensely proud of both the amazing startup community in Boulder as well as the many significant companies that have been – and are being – created in the little town of 100,000 people I call home. By the time we sold to Level 3, our total proceeds to equity owners and management were $225M. We paid them $8.7M

Bandwidth 147

Bandwidth Colorado Startup IRR 147

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 8, 2013

I am so very tired of MBO-based bonuses in startups. This is totally messed up in a startup. Even better, consider using equity compensation as the bonus. I knew the concept of MBOs pre-dated my time in business school, but I couldn’t remember where they came from. Things are changing daily.

Stock Options 146

Stock Options Technical Review Leadership Equity 146

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 14, 2020

Since 2015, Startland News has helped Kansas City entrepreneurs shout their triumphs from the rooftops — a critical piece of storytelling as the local startup community evolves beyond good ideas written on napkins to the home of powerhouse startups and nine-figure exits.

Kansas City 122

Kansas City Kansas Matching Community 122

Feld Thoughts

MAY 9, 2011

This afternoon in Boulder I’ll be on a panel as part of the White House Startup America Roundtable. More recently, I’ve focused my energy on the Startup Visa movement and the Startup America Partnership. Tax Policy : Incent people to invest in startups.

Government 143

Government Technical Review Intellectual Property Accredited Investor 143

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 21, 2020

A lot of that energy shifted to new work around racial equity and the release of my new book with Ian Hathaway The Startup Community Way. I made a big shift earlier this summer after I finished up some of the work I was doing with the State of Colorado around Covid, specifically around the Innovation Response Team.

Colorado 149

Colorado Equity Restful Community 149

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

Want to work for a startup? Have you ever wanted to work for a web startup, but aren’t sure where to look or how it might be different from a big company gig? Come check out the TechStars Smackdown event on October 12th in Boulder. It’s not a typical job fair.

Salary 131

Salary Startup Equity Security 131

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

It’s next door to the Homes for Hackers and KC Startup Village. As part of helping create the Kansas City startup community. I’m not taking any equity in these companies – I using a “give before you get” philosophy here to experiment, learn, and help the Kansas City startup community.

Kansas City 194

Kansas City Kansas Iowa Community 194

Feld Thoughts

JULY 7, 2020

Each chapter ended with her reflections about race, diversity, equity, and equality that related directly to the story she had just told. They interweave one’s history and experiences with personal philosophy, advice, reflection (both the author’s and mine), and inspiration.

Atlanta 133

Atlanta Equity Networking Naming 133

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 17, 2013

There are no strings attached – I don’t get any equity and there are no downstream obligations for them. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m doing this as an experiment around Startup Communities. Also, thanks to Scott Case of Startup America for helping judge the competition. Welcome to the Fiberhood!

Kansas City 142

Kansas City Kansas Iowa America 142

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 4, 2018

Anthony Shontz, managing director of Private Equity at Partners Group. Over a decade ago, Brad Bernthal and Phil Weiser were putting real energy into Boulder Startup Community. I discuss their efforts, and impact, in my book Startup Communities (which was published in 2012). Bernthal and Jason grabbed this and ran with it.

Private Equity 71

Private Equity Colorado Angel Investor Community 71

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 27, 2013

And then reflect on the post from the anonymous entrepreneur that I highlighted yesterday titled My Startup has 30 Days to Live. Venture Capital equity mendelson ownership sale valuation wilson' If you want another example, take a look at my partner Seth’s post from last year titled I’m getting sick of the b t.

Valuation 132

Valuation Venture Capital Equity Partner 132

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 15, 2013

Some are major contributors to their startup communities. As with everything new that grows quickly, it’s a chaotic system with lots of innovation, creative destruction, and rapid change and learning that – if done well – is a great example of the power of the Lean Startup approach to entrepreneurship.

Global 179

Global Networking United States Seed Money 179

Feld Thoughts

JULY 16, 2013

It is, after all, called the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act. A number of the provisions have been slow to get written into law and the SEC has missed their deadlines on a bunch of stuff, including the often talked about equity crowdfunding activity. Politics form d general solicitation JOBS Act Reg 506 Rule 156 sec startups'

SEC 152

SEC Equity Email Security 152

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 8, 2016

In 1998, when I started ending up with lots of shares in public Internet companies, I came up with a formulaic approach for any public equities that are distributed to me (either from our funds or other VC funds). Except – not really – since a big part of my job is corporate finance, just for startups and fast growing companies.

Flash 70

Flash Equity Stock Finance 70

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

At the early stages, raising the first $2m tends to be straightforward in most geographies that have meaningful startup communities. There is a huge capital supply gap for companies that are in between early startups and companies that are successful growth companies. It continues to be highly dependent on company, stage, and location.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital Private Equity Early Stage Valuation 70

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 1, 2013

It’s a core tenant of the Boulder Startup Community, which I discuss extensively in Startup Communities: How To Build an Entrepreneur Ecosystem in Your City. I’ve lived my adult working life – first as an entrepreneur, next as an angel investor, and now as a venture capitalist and a writer – using this credo.

Angel Investor 183

Angel Investor Equity Community Entrepreneur 183

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

Our startup, GoodApril, had been acquired by Intuit (maker of TurboTax) in the final days of the TechStars Boulder accelerator program. Startups cannot succeed in a vacuum. I asked Mitch Fox and Benny Joseph from GoodApril to write up their thoughts on why they did this. It follows.

Colorado 138

Colorado Cofounder Community Programming 138

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

In today’s installment of our convertible debt series, we cover a specific case where the company is acquired before the debt converts into equity. In the case of an early-stage startup that hasn’t issued preferred stock yet, the debt converts into stock of the acquiring company (if it’s a stock deal) at a valuation subject to a cap.

Conversion 96

Conversion Sales Later Stage Preferred Stock 96

Feld Thoughts

JULY 25, 2011

For example: How Did We Get Our Idea For Our Startup? How Much Equity Should an Early Stage COO/CFO Get? We did this for a while, getting to most of the questions which has created a very nice corpus of answers to several hundred questions easily searchable by Lijit. How Do You Negotiate a Carve Out With Investors?

Early Stage 124

Early Stage Equity Entrepreneur Startup 124

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 30, 2011

Both are good friends of mine and have really interesting philosophies about startup funding. I think Keith was once quoted as saying “I’d rather give up my left nut than give up equity in my company&# and having gotten to know him over the past couple years, I don’t think that’s far from the truth.

Cofounder 112

Cofounder Seattle Equity Valuation 112

Feld Thoughts

JULY 7, 2016

The company had literally no equity available to it, but was growing at a rate that would put most of today’s VC-backed startups to shame. His only real source of financing was tradition banks (who sucked) and partners (playing the float). He made it work and how he did it was awesome.

.Net 76

.Net Finance Revenue Equity 76

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 12, 2011

When we were last with Dick and Jane on Finance Fridays, our fearless entrepreneurs were figuring out how to split up their founders equity and account for an investment from Jane. Feeling overwhelmed, Dick emailed his friend Josh, the CEO of an early-stage startup in Boulder, to see how they figured out all of this stuff.

Balance Sheet 136

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 136

Feld Thoughts

MAY 4, 2016

Suddenly, hardware related startups are all the rage. You might be surprised how little equity is actually required to build a marketing-leading, cash flow positive, high growth, hardware related company. Every financing for every company we’ve invested in this area has been extremely difficult.

Metrics 70

Metrics Equity Channel Software 70

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 2, 2010

Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). Then we’ll open source these and evangelize them across the startup world, at least in the US. If you are an attorney at a major national or regional law firm that works with startup companies, please email me if you are interested in participating.

Finance 133

Finance Term Sheet Angel Investor Early Stage 133

Feld Thoughts

JULY 2, 2012

A short letter agreement specifying the equity splits and the boilerplate legal docs were the only legal docs we had until we sold the company in 1993. As my partner Jason Mendelson told me after I sent him this the other day, “If things go well, it’s fine.

Technology 135

Technology Equity Partner Email 135

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 2, 2010

Dave McClure: MoneyBall for Startups: Invest BEFORE Product/Market Fit, Double-Down AFTER. Specifically, our seed investments are not “options on the next round.&# We price our seed rounds as equity investments, always lead or co-lead (as Fred describes in ?

Angel Investor 152

Angel Investor Cofounder Syndicate Syndication 152

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Startup Wealth: How the Best Angel Investors Make Money in Startups : Josh interviewed a bunch of angel investors, including me. The Term Sheet: A Startup Thriller Novel : I’m a big fan of the Startup Fiction genre. I should have read this book when it first came out. This was a quick, fun read.

Angel Investor 70

Angel Investor Investment Bankers Term Sheet Texas 70

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 9, 2015

For the past 13 years, Lindel Eakman has been the head of UTIMCO’s private equity group. The Next strategy will not only allow us to continue making direct investments in high-potential startups, but will also scale-up our ability to support venture firms and funds whose vision and values align with ours.

Later Stage 70

Later Stage Early Stage Advisory Board Deal Flow 70

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

I originally bought the Bitcoins for the Coursera course Startup Engineering which I managed to get through the fourth week of before I couldn’t make enough time to keep up with it.

Internet 142

Internet Equity Stock Government 142