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.

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Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

Hunter Walker

JULY 2, 2022

Most hiring processes start with an antiquated assumption that companies select people to work for them. Here are a few tips we’ve been giving portfolio founders: Limit the Time Between The Offer and Start Date. Get them on your benefits, start vesting their stock and so on. Involve Their Family/Partners.

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Hiring Vesting Early Stage Stock 93

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2015

If you’re giving a large percentage of your company to someone (and yes, two percent is large), you’re entering into a contract that’s really a whole lot like marriage in that it creates a long-term relationship between you and the employee or partner. The longer employees stay, the more of their stock options they “vest.”.

Equity 60

Equity Employee Stock Options Vesting 60

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.

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Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

www.thedailymuse.com

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

We’re Hiring. What Start-ups Should Know About Hiring a Lawyer. Hiring and working with a lawyer is often confusing and daunting, especially if you’ve never done it before. What should new entrepreneurs look for when hiring a lawyer? Hiring employees. Get Involved. Meet the Team. Job Search. Break Room.

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Hiring LLC Intellectual Property Private Equity 56

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

And even this can’t stop their employees from fleeing after two years of vesting to move on to the next hot startup. Hire fewer employees until you’re bursting at the seems with work for the ones you have. partners and now principals making investments that number is the right-sized fit for our firm.

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Software Review Turkey Portfolio Syndicate 150

www.informationarbitrage.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Home About Press IA Capital Partners Archives After 17 years in M&A, Derivatives and Trading, Im spending my time with young entrepreneurs in and around financial technology and digital media. Main February 23, 2010 Advice for CTO Founders: Dont Let Business Kill the Business Founding a technology company is an amazing thing.

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Founder Cap Table Vesting 40

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2010

So if you’re the founder of a startup, you may want to consider who you take money from. Is Your VC Founder Friendly? How many of their founders are still with their company? How many of their founders are still with their company? Will they tailor your vesting to your contribution as a founder?

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Founder Vesting Later Stage Early Stage 231

Reid Hoffman

DECEMBER 10, 2020

These are really good founders and I think this is an interesting space.” Further, when additional people kept mentioning Airbnb to me and praising the founders, I should have asked myself how a smart, capable person would refine the idea.). Those two minutes showed me that Airbnb’s founders wanted to play in the big leagues.

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Hosting Hockey Stick IPO Silicon Valley 69

The Next Web

AUGUST 26, 2013

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Christian Reber, CEO and co-founder of Berlin-based 6Wunderkinder. Today, in steps 10-12 I want to discuss with you raising your first round of money, hiring to develop and maintain your company culture, as well as defining your role in the management of your startup. 60-70% for founders.

Management 120

Management Cofounder Startup Bootstrapping 120

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. What if the person performs OK, but not great and you need to hire above him? These situations are only compounded if you have 3 or more founders. They agreed to all be co-founders. I believe you should treat them as partners.

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Founder Cofounder Equity Stock Options 251

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. Sean Seton-Rogers, Partner, Profounders Capital, breaks the conversation into three areas: Control: voting/veto for new deals, share of management company. So assessing fit is critical. What should the firm do?

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Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Partner 60

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2013

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a Founder agreement at the beginning. This oversight can lead to the so-called “forgotten Founder” problem. Later, when your venture is trying to close on financing, or even going public, that forgotten partner surfaces, demanding their original share.

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Non-Compete Accredited Investor Startup Cofounder 235

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2012

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a Founder agreement at the beginning. This oversight can lead to the so-called “forgotten founder” problem. Later, when your venture is trying to close on financing, or even going public, that forgotten partner surfaces, demanding their original share.

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Non-Compete Accredited Investor Cofounder Startup 249

blog.aparttimecto.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Unless you’re fortunate to have one or more technical founders, you’ll quickly be faced with this simple question: Do we hack out a prototype somehow, find a developer or outsource the development? Create the prototype yourself Pros: Cheap - this only takes up the time of your and your founders.

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Equity Vesting 40

www.mattbartus.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Perspectives on issues affecting founders, startups and investors from a veteran startup lawyer in Silicon Valley. I can’t tell you how often a client calls me up and says something like this: “Matt, we have this great new consultant who is going to make introductions to us to [pick type of business partner]. About Matt.

Equity 40

Equity Vesting Silicon Valley Intellectual Property 40

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2011

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a founder agreement at the beginning. This oversight can lead to the so-called “forgotten founder” problem. Early co-founders often drop out of the picture due to disagreements, and you forget about them, but they don’t forget about the verbal promises you made.

Non-Compete 246

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Entrepreneur Cofounder 246

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Back in 1997, Randy Parker was staring at a blank whiteboard, wondering where hed find the money to hire the employees and consultants he needed to build his new product. "We Durkin , managing partner with the Boston -based law firm Lucash, Gesmer & Updegrove LLP. FROM OUR PARTNERS. ); ); ); ADVERTISEMENT. Select Services.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Getting the first meeting with a VC isn’t easy because each partner at a VC firm gets so many requests for meetings that he/she couldn’t possibly take them all so they tend to prioritize people that were introduced from high-quality sources. I never thought of this until I became the Founder & CEO of my first startup company.

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Cap Table Due Diligence Forecast Churn Rate 336

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

I felt this myself as we went from a few founders huddled into a tiny room to the front page of the Financial Times, an influx of VC interest, magazine covers, invitations to high-profile events and the pressures of trying to live up to this perception and the economic opportunities everybody expected. Every founder knows this.

Houston 150

Houston Vesting Founder Capital Call 150

www.instigatorblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

I gave him similar numbers to what I had been given when I was hiring the first few employees for Standout Jobs. David Crow just posted about this very topic: Founders vs. Early Employees and shows the Venture Hacks chart. .&# And I told him that the numbers were fairly standard, based on guidelines I had seen used in other places.

Equity 41

Equity Employee Startup Vesting 41

blog.simeonov.com

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Simeon, can you tell us how you structure ownership and control so you can fire your co-founders if necessary? The first part will dispel some myths, address the lifecycle of founder agreements and the key compensation and control parameters in them. Let’s start by dispelling some myths: There is a standard founder agreement.

Founder 44

Founder Vesting Agile Startup 44

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 16, 2018

On the other hand, some founders *literally* aren't fundraising. Given that so much of the bet at these early stages, even at the Series A comes down more to "Do I believe what this founder believes?" A lot of founders worry about information sharing. So, how could you say you aren't fundraising?

Due Diligence 74

Due Diligence Early Stage Term Sheet Vesting 74

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

To learn some common legal pitfalls we’d all be better off avoiding, we asked nine founders from the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) what unexpected things they found themselves needing lawyers for in the early stages of their startups. Hire a lawyer to help draft an incentive plan with a vesting schedule that fits your business.

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Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Term Sheet Early Stage 97

Berkonomics

APRIL 4, 2024

Start-ups with one founder rarely have or need a board of directors. As soon as any outside money is ingested into the corporation, others have a vested and legal interest in the behavior of officers entrusted with the best use of funds. Then along comes either money or contracts from strategic or financial investors or partners.

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Covenant Software Review Stock Options Vesting 48

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

There were two distinct classes of employee equity (issued by Intermix and MySpace, respectively) with different valuation and vesting situations—and, most significantly, a $125 million valuation cap applied to the buyout of MySpace equity that was triggered by the acquisition of Intermix. Read on for a fuller explanation. by February 2006).

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Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2010

Here are some examples: Failure to document a founder agreement at the beginning. This shortcut can lead to the so-called “forgotten founder” problem. Early co-founders often drop out of the picture due to disagreements, and you forget about them, but they don’t forget about the verbal promises you made.

Non-Compete 125

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Startup Cofounder 125

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

For startup founders, it’s never too early to start thinking about putting together a target market advisory board. In other cases, they may come from your channel partners or elsewhere. A strong advisor can walk you in the door to the same number of companies as 2–3 new sales hires. Never discount the power of a warm intro.

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Advisory Board Sweat Equity Marketing Vertical 48

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

infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Basing a consultant’s compensation on the incremental revenue they generate is a great example of a deal that is on The Fringe (for other creative approaches to partnering, see Agreements on The Fringe). At the early stages of your company’s life, you cannot rely on disinterested, hired guns to define your company’s key tasks.

Equity 40

Equity Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 40

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

What are the terms of their relationship with the founder? I’ve also asked this question on Quora.There, I ask for advice on how to best structure this for all parties: The development shop, the founders (outside of the dev shop), and potential outside investors. What are the timelines? The discounts? The cliffs? The fine print?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

Up and Running

JANUARY 18, 2016

See Also: Got “Founder Fit”? The importance of this is that it sets the foundations for the many discussions you will have with your funder on all topics from new product launches, to major capital spend, to key hiring decisions. Therefore, you cannot view the funder as a silent partner—they will have a lot to add.

Exit Strategy 60

Exit Strategy Vesting Security Bootstrapping 60

Hunter Walker

OCTOBER 22, 2021

When I encounter founders who know how to hire, or founders who are self-aware enough to know it’s an area they want to get better at, it’s a huge plus in our investment decision. It’s very hard to hire something if you don’t know what it looks like. There are lots of things you can do to up your game as a hiring leader.

Hiring 147

Hiring Vesting Salary Naming 147

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. Should founders have anti-dilution rights?

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

thestartuplawyer.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

He obviously never launched a startup and got shafted by a co-founder. He obviously never launched a startup and got shafted by a co-founder. You can start by examining every aspect of the co-founder relationship. In fact, if your co-founder is a friend or relative, that should trigger even more issues and discussions.

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Cofounder Founder Preferred Stock Startup 40

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

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

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. See Bessemer Venture Partners’ A comprehensive guide to security for startups. Cobalt for General Partners helps GPs to optimize their fundraising strategy. 1) Manage the firm

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78