Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

This week they set out to create their cap table and hire a CTO. The founders each have common shares that will vest over four years. The vesting schedule protects each of the co-founders in case one gets hit by a bus or decides to drop the project after a short period of time. Time to update the cap table.

Cap Table 133

Cap Table CTO Hire Technical Cofounder Cofounder 133

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2022

Thus if you want to change the world with your new business, you need to follow the example of startups like Zappos , which hires according to cultural fit first. As a startup founder or executive, you need to subvert your own troubles for the sake of the team. Good hiring, training, and mentoring are the best motivators.

Stock Options 362

Stock Options Salary Leadership Stock 362

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners.

Technical Cofounder 144

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2014

A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners.

Technical Cofounder 245

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 245

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

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

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2015

If however you are giving a “normal employee” an incentive stock option plan (more on that later), that’s entirely different. Make sure you understand all of your options before making any decisions. When business owners decide to go down the route of equity compensation, there are two primary options to choose between.

Equity 60

Equity Employee Stock Options Vesting 60

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners.

Technical Cofounder 120

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2020

Thus if you want to change the world with your new business, you need to follow the example of startups like Zappos , which hires according to cultural fit first. As a startup founder or executive, you need to subvert your own troubles for the sake of the team. Good hiring, training, and mentoring are the best motivators.

Product 322

Product Stock Options Salary Leadership 322

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

Clearly the founders and senior executives of a company are the most valuable resources and their time should be maximized on the most valuable tasks. For a well-funded seed company I have controversially recommended hiring a great office manager that doubles as an administrative assistant. It’s the norm more than you think.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

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. We’re Hiring. Get Involved. Meet the Team.

Hiring 56

Hiring LLC Intellectual Property Private Equity 56

Up and Running

MARCH 7, 2018

Aside from the time-consuming tasks of screening potential employees, interviewing, and re-hiring , losing and replacing employees is expensive. Hire the right people. This may seem obvious, but it’s worth mentioning: the best way to ensure that employees don’t leave your new company is to hire the right people to begin with.

Employee 91

Employee Startup Salary Hiring 91

Genuine VC

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Other than starting to build, hire, and take over the world, there are a bunch of mundane things to do right away. The following is a first pass at a checklist of items for Founder CEOs to take care of in the first couple weeks after they’ve closed their initial round of seed funding. You’ve just closed your seed round.

Founder 156

Founder Cap Table Stock Options PR 156

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 22, 2010

It’s still important advice for startup founders and something that I’m passionate about. I never hire job hoppers. You’re a startup founder. You have tough choices to make about whom you hire on your team. You start fighting with your co-founder whom you thought you understood. That’s OK.

Hiring 392

Hiring Employee Vesting Silicon Valley 392

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

By Daniel Sokolovksy, Co-Founder and CEO, WARP and Troy Lester, Co-Founder and CRO, WARP The dissolution of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was more than just a bank collapse, it was a reality check for both startups and the VCs that fund them. As a founder, ask yourself – does your business actually warrant VC funding?

Early Stage 112

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 112

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

I recently sat down with Matt Coffin , the founder of LowerMyBills, which sold for $400 million but was very nearly a bankruptcy only a few years early, and talked “startups.&#. Mark: 10% warrant coverage is like stock options. Matt is one of the most transparent, focused & honest startup guys you’ll meet.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

The Next Web

AUGUST 12, 2013

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Christian Reber, CEO and co-founder of Berlin-based 6Wunderkinder. I think an issue many talented entrepreneurs and European founders (especially German founders) have is, they don’t think big enough. Many founders don’t deal well with people leaving, but I am probably one of the worst.

Cofounder 119

Cofounder CTO Hire Startup Europe 119

www.drowningamerican.com

JUNE 22, 2012

Next → How we Hire for Sweat Equity (Part 2)… Posted on April 7, 2011 by Travis Biziorek. The first time we hired partners for Kibin was way back in late 2009. I’ve heard people say it’s impossible to hire good developers right now. I want to hire before I have the ability to pay anyone.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Hiring Technical Review 40

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. Who prevails? That’s great.

Founder 251

Founder Cofounder Equity Stock Options 251

Hunter Walker

JUNE 7, 2022

In these moments there tends to be a lot of content to help CEOs and founders manage through a downturn, but not as much for those team members impacted. Obviously this can be a bit tricky but in small companies when you have kind founders and you’ve been a great team member, it’s ok to ask. Extend Your Stock Option Exercise Period.

Stock Options 94

Stock Options Vesting Stock Valuation 94

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Startups that are backed by professional financial investors almost always have a Board of Directors that consists of some set of founders, investors and sometimes independent directors. These are truly protective even though sometimes founders find them to be an unwelcome level of approval required. hiring & firing the CEO.

Startup 204

Startup Dilution Government Stock Options 204

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” The narrative of this discussion is something like this: I meet a 35-40-year-old founder with two kids and mortgage. the standard 4-6% for a hired-gun CEO).

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley IP 150

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.

Hosting 69

Hosting Hockey Stick IPO Silicon Valley 69

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Before you even get the business off the ground, it’s important to ensure that you and the co-founders (if any) agree on everything. Every startup should have a written founder agreement, which should include the following points: The roles and responsibilities of each member. Stock Option documentation.

LLC 168

LLC Startup Stock Options Cofounder 168

Hunter Walker

OCTOBER 24, 2013

In getting to know founders during their fundraising process we push to understand The Why because their motivation will be the first strands of the company’s DNA. Believes in the ultimate vision of this company and why we’re here, not just the potential lottery ticket of stock options. Me : Awesome.

Hiring 103

Hiring Advisory Board Ruby Stock Options 103

www.joelonsoftware.com

MARCH 24, 2010

When we decide to hire someone, the interviewers who were involved in the "hire" decision will sit down with the candidates resume and salary history and figure out what level they will start at. If we hire people in other cities, we will simply use industry-standard COLA adjustments to set salaries in other cities.

Software Review 48

Software Review Stock Options Salary Technical Review 48

David Teten

AUGUST 1, 2019

Negotiate Your Equity And Salary With Stock Option Counsel Tips. Here’s How Startup Founders Should Offer Employee Equity. Private company stock option grants: a founder’s guide to who gets what, when. How to assign stock options in early-stage startups. Joining An Early Stage Startup?

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Equity Due Diligence Portfolio 60

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

We had personally invested $70,000 of our own money at this point, and we were hoping to raise at least another $250,000 to help us hire a team, launch our company, and begin to build our product. So we hired another firm to help us facilitate the removal of this clause. Our attorney should have known.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

Negotiate Your Equity And Salary With Stock Option Counsel Tips. Here’s How Startup Founders Should Offer Employee Equity. Private company stock option grants: a founder’s guide to who gets what, when. How to assign stock options in early-stage startups. Joining An Early Stage Startup?

Due Diligence 60

Due Diligence Stock Options Covenant Private Equity 60

Berkonomics

JANUARY 7, 2021

Few entrepreneurs can do it alone, with subordinate hired help and no expert management to share the burdens, skill sets, and efforts involved in growing the enterprise. The third group is made of the total number and types of investors, other than the founder(s). Dividing equity among those that fill the management gap.

Liquidity Event 96

Liquidity Event Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder Initial Public Offering 96

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2013

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder “vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health.

Due Diligence 253

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Burn Rate 253

Gust

APRIL 9, 2014

The Founder of a company starts by owning all the shares representing ownership of the company. Over time, other people receive pieces of equity in exchange for work (employee stock options), money (seed, angel and venture investors), services (attorneys, directors, etc.). original post can be found on Quora @ [link] *.

Dilution 150

Dilution Equity Vesting Stock Options 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2014

Many startups these days are started by young, technical or product founders who are in the idealistic phase of their lives and careers. Zynga not only had many hirings & firings but ultimately it led to Mark Pincus stepping aside as CE O. It’s not that I don’t love idealism – I was young once, too! .”

Startup 385

Startup Stock Options Cofounder Campaign 385

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2012

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder “vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health.

Due Diligence 244

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate Intellectual Property 244

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

For starters let me use “CEO” as a proxy to include her “inner circle” which might mean co-founders or might just mean senior execs of the business. The Mind of the Founder. The mind of a founder is wired differently than most people. The startup CEO was not the original founder.

Startup 417

Startup Dilution San Diego Stock Options 417

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2016

Thus if you want to change the world with your new business, you need to follow the example of startups like Zappos , which hires according to cultural fit first. As a startup founder or executive, you need to subvert your own troubles for the sake of the team. Good hiring, training, and mentoring are the best motivators.

Startup 147

Startup Stock Options Salary Stock 147

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder “vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health.

Due Diligence 237

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Entrepreneur 237