Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2021

Every entrepreneur needs to understand the following basics, to be addressed at company formation, as they engage a qualified attorney to draw up the paperwork: Allocate founder’s stock commensurate with commitment. This is the purpose of a vesting schedule, which issues allocated stock over time.

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Vesting Dilution Stock Founder Vesting 298

View from Seed

JANUARY 5, 2016

At the beginning, a startup team is typically just a couple of co-founders. What we suggest at this juncture is that founders get acclimated to the tactics of scaling beyond the founding team. What to Address During Genesis Team Building: How do we divide and conquer responsibilities as co-founders? Below, I take a look at each.

Founder 120

Founder Cofounder Startup Early Stage 120

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. If people are funding the business, they should get a premium because at the end of the day, cash funding founders are acting no different than a seed stage investor. Whose idea was it?

Cofounder 136

Cofounder Equity Founder Seed Stage 136

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Arif Bhalwani is the co-founder and CEO of Third Eye Capital (TEC) in Toronto, Canada. The increasing inflow of capital into private credit necessitates rigorous underwriting standards and disciplined risk management. The firm has made more than $4.5 You’ve called this era of private credit the “Reformation Age.”

Technical Review 133

Technical Review Due Diligence Bankruptcy Intellectual Property 133

VC Adventure

AUGUST 16, 2020

The data change over time and, frankly, I’m less interested in debating what % grant your Director of Product Management should receive given your stage of company and capital raised, and more interested in the structure of your program. It strikes me that many founders never really consider this question.

Programming 149

Programming Vesting Equity Software Review 149

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

One of the things that founders have the most angst about is whom they should have on their board and at what stage of the business. Why you should set up a board at the seed round of funding I know these days with SAFE documents and rolling convertible notes many founders prefer not to set up a board early on.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Startup Angel Investor Silicon Valley 236

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Sputnik ATX Three rules to avoid getting scammed by advisors As an early stage VC, one of the saddest things I observe from meetings with founders is the toxic and pervasive influence of what I call the start-up industrial complex (the SIC). Founders, we love you and want to see you succeed. This is a bad deal for you, if you take it.

Vesting 72

Vesting Early Stage Seed Capital Equity 72

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

Startup founders are our ambitious problem solvers. Startup founders are driven to solve problems and make a difference – many want to literally change the world. So managing risk in a startup is less about compliance, it’s more about being as brave and ambitious as you can without breaking things. Risk and reward.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review New Zealand Due Diligence 88

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

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.

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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

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2022

By the way, you will normally only be offered “options,” which vest over a 4-year period after a 1-year “cliff.” CEO brought in to replace the founder, 5 - 10% CTO, CFO, VP of Marketing or Sales, 1.5 - 3% Chief Engineer or Architect, 1 - 1.5% 7% Product Manager,2 -.3% Advisory Board Member, 1% Senior Engineer,3 -.7%

Stock Options 343

Stock Options Advisory Board Stock Startup 343

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

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. In my opinion, founders or early stage companies should only have a team of two or three people. In my opinion, founders or early stage companies should only have a team of two or three people.

Technical Cofounder 64

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 64

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

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.

Stock 129

Stock Vesting Preferred Stock Cofounder 129

www.informationarbitrage.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Main February 23, 2010 Advice for CTO Founders: Dont Let Business Kill the Business Founding a technology company is an amazing thing. Too often, however, I have found CTO / Founders paired with business people who not only don't add value, but frequently detract from the value of the business. So my advice to CTO / Founders?

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Founder Cap Table Vesting 40

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

In tech startups stock options were here almost from the beginning, first offered to the founders in 1957 at Fairchild Semiconductor , the first chip startup in Silicon Valley. The investors were giving away part of their ownership of the company — not just to the founders, but to all employees. Here’s why.

Stock Options 333

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 333

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 1, 2007 Entreprenuer Network Great post by Ben Kuo - The Importance of the “Network&# to Entrepreneurs - the informal connections between people in the technology industry here who have a vested interest in helping entrepreneurs take their companies to the next level.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Networking Southern California Los Angeles 150

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. ” I spend more time helping manage Upfront Ventures so that we as a firm are better prepared as a team to succeed vs. just any individual. For investors life is no different.

Software Review 150

Software Review Turkey Portfolio Syndicate 150

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Stock options are issued to employees usually through an Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) and include what is called a “vesting period.” The vesting period, often three or four years, frees up a percentage of the options for the employee to purchase the longer they stay at the company. Restricted stock: . If you don’t need to

Equity 60

Equity Employee Stock Options Vesting 60

Gust

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

Gust.com is the most widely used tool platform for both sides, with hundreds of thousands of companies and tens of thousands of investors using it to track and manage their relations with the other. Needless to say, the author of this post is completely biased, as I am the Founder & CEO of Gust ).

Management 115

Management Vesting Angel Investor Venture Capital 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2015

Every entrepreneur needs to understand the following basics, to be addressed at company formation, as they engage a qualified attorney to draw up the paperwork: Allocate founder’s stock commensurate with commitment. This is the purpose of a vesting schedule, which issues allocated stock over time.

Stock 120

Stock Vesting Common Stock Founder Vesting 120

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.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. VCs competing for unicorn investments have given founders control of the board. A pre-IPO board usually had two founders, two VCs and one “independent” member. Technology Cycles Measured in Years.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

A Strong Pool of Tech Founders – Stating the obvious. Eric Paley , managing partner at Founder Collective , told me that they had implemented a city-wide program in Boston to help local university students get internships at local tech startups. And they have a vested interest in this success. Here are mine: 1.

Community 378

Community San Diego Silicon Valley Los Angeles 378

Altgate

JUNE 25, 2012

—————– Dead equity — equity held by employees and founders no longer working at the company — is a large and growing problem. Imagine how much tougher a dead-equity dilemma becomes when co-founders, who tend to hold large equity stakes, are involved. Noam Wasserman on Inc.

Equity 44

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 44

Steve Blank

JULY 19, 2010

As a founder I fought with VC’s over vesting as they brought in a new CEO and walked me out the door. As a board member I negotiated with founding CEO’s over vesting when I thought it was their time to go. The fallacy is believing that a founders value is evenly distributed over four years. Where’s My Liquidity Event.

Vesting 251

Vesting Liquidity Event Venture Capital Founder Vesting 251

techcrunch.com

JUNE 22, 2012

This is where a lot of founders get stuck. Not to mention, once the founder and advisor have nominally agreed to a relationship, law firms enter the mix and seed the new advisor with a mountain of paperwork — legal agreements, options agreements — documents stuffed with legalese and binding statements.

Equity 94

Equity San Francisco Startup Silicon Valley 94

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2015

I got answers that sounded like the Tom’s – new stock grants for the executive staff, great new building, and oh, by the way, Tom and his co-founder got to sell some stock in the new round. Tell each hiring manager: No new hires until you write/update your own job description. Refactoring” organizational debt. the company had.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

By the way, you will normally only be offered “options,” which vest over a 4-year period after a 1-year “cliff.” CEO brought in to replace the founder, 5 - 10% CTO, CFO, VP of Marketing or Sales, 1.5 - 3% Chief Engineer or Architect, 1 - 1.5% 7% Product Manager,2 -.3% Advisory Board Member, 1% Senior Engineer,3 -.7%

Equity 237

Equity Stock Options Advisory Board Stock 237

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 24, 2014

The vast majority of my future savings was (a) not vested yet and (b) tied to hope for future stock grants I’d earn. It’s for reasons like these that I support getting startup founders some liquidity during their company’s first few years, perhaps as early as Series A financing when appropriate.

Founder 108

Founder San Francisco Liquidity Event LP 108

Gust

APRIL 9, 2014

The Founder of a company starts by owning all the shares representing ownership of the company. This typically happens when the company is facing tough times, and the value of management’s original options has greatly decreased to the point that the equity no longer serves as an incentive for staying with the company.

Dilution 150

Dilution Equity Vesting Stock Options 150

The Next Web

JUNE 21, 2015

Suggested by: Brittany Berger , Content & PR Manager @ Mention. Suggested by: Brittany Berger , Content & PR Manager @ Mention. Suggested by: Brittany Berger , Content & PR Manager @ Mention. This book has been on my radar even since Buffer announced they were experimenting with having no managers.

PR 60

PR Startup Software Review Technical Review 60

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

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.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268

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. I agree with Gokul.)

Stock Options 94

Stock Options Vesting Stock Valuation 94

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 23, 2013

Play your cards closer to the vest. Others business communication communication dealing with people Geoffrey Tumlin people management personal communication Stop Talking Start Communicating weakness' Ask yourself which is more important to you: throwing your two cents in or maintaining a decent relationship?

Turkey 145

Turkey Vesting Conversion Leadership 145