Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

I like to say that “there are only co-founders” — it’s extraordinarily rare for a successful business to have just a sole founder. But not all co-founders are equal in terms of title, ownership, responsibilities, and so forth. Sometimes co-founders put off the equity split question for some time.

Cofounder 173

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 173

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

There is a telltale sign of an inexperienced startup entrepreneur. As a startup you shouldn’t focus on buying other companies until you’ve figured out your own business. As a startup you shouldn’t focus on buying other companies until you’ve figured out your own business. Tags: Startup Advice.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Gust

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

The bottom line is that the very question you are asking is one of the trickiest things of all when it comes to startup founding. original post can be found on Quora @ : [link] *.

Founder 134

Founder Option Pool Vesting Cofounder 134

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

Dealing almost exclusively with first time startup founders, we tackle the following question with nearly all of our CEOs: How much equity should they give to the employees? In one instance, I told a CEO that we typically recommend a 15 percent stock options pool at seed/Series A stage. She rolled her eyes in disbelief.

Equity 154

Equity Employee Option Pool Stock Options 154

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Want to start a startup? August 2010 Two years ago I wrote about what I called " a huge, unexploitedopportunity in startup funding :" the growing disconnect betweenVCs, whose current business model requires them to invest largeamounts, and a large class of startups that need less than theyused to. Get funded by Y Combinator.

Startup 93

Startup Valuation Non-Compete Deal Flow 93

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

Unfortunately, what the CEO/founder forgets most often is that the notes have a multiplier effect in the post-money calculation; the more notes and the further the cap is from the new priced equity, the greater the variance between actual and nominal pre- and post-money valuations. It will be worth the time and effort. Sound simple?

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

Over the years I’ve written extensively about the downsides of convertible notes for startups such as here , here and here. How much is in the option pool? If you have 8 senior managers in place and I don’t think you’ll need as many people I might accept an option pool of 8% unallocated.

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Post-Money Valuation Dilution 150

Austin Startup

JANUARY 25, 2020

Austin, TX Fast forward 4 years later, here I am working for a startup at the South By South West Tech & Music festival in Austin, TX. SXSW brings a huge chunk of the music and tech world together in one city every year in March, and most startups launch their products there every year. How did I get the gig?

Delaware 62

Delaware SEC New York City New York 62

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Kayak was started here in my backyard of Boston… co-founder & CTO Paul English and the product/engineering team is based here in Concord MA. Co-founder & CEO Steve Hafner and the business team are based in Norwalk, CT. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. April 17, 2011.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 21, 2023

Before we get into a debate about how much a founder should own, there’s a context implicit in the question that is easily overlooked. Now that we’ve established that, let’s talk about founder blind spots. That doesn’t make you a bad founder. And as for the founder incentive thing, I have two comments. Did you spot it?

Cap Table 78

Cap Table Term Sheet Database Option Pool 78

The Next Web

OCTOBER 21, 2013

Neil Rimer is a Partner and co-founder of Index Ventures. As the European startup ecosystem matures, you would expect young entrepreneurs to enjoy ever-increasing access to useful advice from mentors, business leaders, experienced entrepreneurs, legal advisors and investors.

Cap Table 128

Cap Table Option Pool Angel Investor Entrepreneur 128

Gust

AUGUST 30, 2012

Integrity, Passion, Startup Experience, Domain Expertise, Functional Skills, Leadership, Commitment, Vision, Pragmatism, Flexibility, Personality. Characteristics of the Entrepreneur. Characteristics of the Venture.

Founder Vesting 144

Founder Vesting Option Pool Exit Strategy Vesting 144

Eric Friedman

DECEMBER 30, 2020

This did not end up happening at all but there are a few startups working in this space which I think have a shot 2/ NFTs (non-fungible-tokens) will emerge as a killer use case inside an incredibly fun game at a scale. Startups pave the way for in person only monthly, quarterly, or bi-annually and large corps have 2 day a week in offices.

Stock 120

Stock Private Equity Option Pool LP 120

The Startup Lawyer

FEBRUARY 4, 2011

Great news — your startup just got accepted to an incubator! But before your startup signs up and cashes that $[XX,000] check, your startup’s co-founders should sit down and evaluate the incubator’s offer. Pre-money valuations startups receive from incubators are typically low…really low.

Incubator 105

Incubator Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Advisory Board 105

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

This is an anonymous guest post from a well known startup executive: When we split the atom, Einstein remarked that everything changed but our way of thinking. You could make the same argument about acquisitions and option pools. The elephant in the room is that that founders and CEOs take almost all of it for themselves.

Liquidation Preference 63

Liquidation Preference Founder Option Pool Acquisition 63

www.instigatorblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Home About Contact My thoughts & lessons learned on startups, entrepreneurship, marketing and other stuff. Changing Equity Structures for Early Startup Employees Tweet Recently someone asked me for advice on how much equity they should give to their early employees. the better the startup will be. 1% is just not a lot.

Equity 41

Equity Employee Startup Vesting 41

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Startups and angels: Along the way to success. These include: ·       Vesting of Founder Stock. Especially in situations where the founders have a large position and are key employees, it is not uncommon for investors to request that they agree to have some portion of their holdings vest on a schedule.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Hippoland

APRIL 10, 2016

Dear elizy : I started a company in school with two co-founders. But, Ada wants to split the equity 50% her, 20% Bob and 20% me with a 10% option pool. Although there are no set numbers, your professor should be considered as an active advisor or a co-founder who has left rather than a full-time co-founder.

Cofounder 48

Cofounder Cap Table Equity Vesting 48

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 16, 2010

After using Quora for a few months, I’ve found it a very helpful source of information on anything startup related: from technology, to strategy and even gossip, if that’s what you’re after. How much should it cost for a bootstrapped, lean startup to incorporate (or form an LLC)? Nothing else. Short answer: Patagonia.

Option Pool 88

Option Pool Analytics LLC Startup 88

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

When it comes to the division of equity in startup, there is a similar process every entrepreneur must follow beginning with raising the first round of startup funding and, if you’re lucky, finishing at the point of IPO. Stage 2: Co-Founder. Startup Funding' Raising Funding From Family and Friends: Division of Equity.

Equity 61

Equity Option Pool Cofounder Vesting 61

The Next Web

OCTOBER 7, 2013

That’s what a couple of my friends – engineers at Google and Bloomberg who have been following the rise of startup culture with intrigue – told me recently. 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.

Engineer 129

Engineer Dilution Option Pool Vesting 129

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. at a startup that has already raised $5 million the chances of you making your retirement money on that company is EXTREMELY small. So a friend recently called to ask for advice on becoming the CTO of a startup. If it doesn’t you’ll have done 3 startups by 26.

Stock Options 418

Stock Options Stock Liquidation Preference Option Pool 418

venturehacks.com

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Venture Hacks Good advice for startups. SUPPORTED BY Products Archives @venturehacks Books AngelList About RSS The Option Pool Shuffle by Nivi on April 10th, 2007 “Follow the money card!&# – The Inside Man, Three-Card Shuffle Summary: Don’t let your investors determine the size of the option pool for you.

Option Pool 68

Option Pool Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Warrant 68

thestartuplawyer.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Contact The Startup Lawyer: Home Page About Contact FAQs Glossary Ryan Roberts Law: Home Page Social Networks: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr Delicious Digg Last.FM 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.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Founder Preferred Stock Startup 40

www.startupnorth.ca

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Home Events Contact Jobs StartupIndex Founders versus early employees by David Crow on September 10th, 2009 in Resources Not everyone can be a founder. We talk about the founders of startups and companies. We focus on the founders. The founders get press coverage. They get invited to speak at events.

Employee 41

Employee Founder Salary Equity 41

Hunter Walker

MAY 7, 2014

I recommend to founders that if there’s a unicorn you need who isn’t on founding team, (a) start identifying those people in advance of fundraising and (b) prepare to compensate them generously via equity. Many first time founders haven’t run hiring processes before, especially outside of their functional discipline.

Hiring 108

Hiring Option Pool Early Stage Term Sheet 108

Business Plan Blog

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

Most sophisticated investors will require a stock option pool upon investment, and a company that fails to reserve a sufficient amount of equity up-front runs the risk of being forced to establish a pool at a later date that may dilute the founders’ ownership. 2: Issue Options According To Value Added And Risk Taken.

Stock Options 61

Stock Options Stock Option Pool Dilution 61

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Advisor. ); STARTUP. If youre offering the consultant stock options, youll also want to take into consideration what the exercise price is going to be and how long the options will be outstanding. Create an options pool, if nothing more than in your mind, so you have some parameters to work within," Durkin says.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Want to start a startup? A typical startup goes throughseveral rounds of funding, and at each round you want to take justenough money to reach the speed where you can shift into the nextgear. Few startups get it quite right. 1 ] A startups life will be more complicated, legally, if any of theinvestors arent accredited.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

ithacaVC

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

Here is the latest edition of Finance Fridays from Brad Feld called “Introducing the Cap Table and CTO” Every startup needs someone to be in charge of the Cap Table. Note how the new CTO Praveena implicitly negotiated to get her 15% founders shares after creation of the stock option pool.

Cap Table 49

Cap Table Finance Option Pool Warrant 49

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. Marketing Intern. Office Space.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

venturehacks.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Venture Hacks Good advice for startups. 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. but it’s manageable. . —

Cofounder 101

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 101

Scott Edward Walker

AUGUST 31, 2011

Thanks, Scott Question We’re a startup based in Palo Alto, and we just received a Series A term sheet for a $725,000 investment. How should the founders divide the initial stock ownership? But more importantly, a good startup lawyer will also discuss with you the business terms, including the structure of the deal.

Silicon Valley 45

Silicon Valley Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Redemption 45

www.payne.org

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Startup Equity For Employees. 5 Stock vs Options. 6 Founders / Restricted Stock. The re-heating of the venture funded tech market has pushed a heat up of the hiring market, and Im getting more calls from friends asking for help understanding startup stock (equity) offers. From Payne.org Wiki. 3 Dilution. 4 Vesting.

Equity 56

Equity Employee Vesting Preferred Stock 56

ithacaVC

JANUARY 24, 2013

Let’s assume the following: Common Stock outstanding: 3,400,000 shares owned by the founders. Option pool: 500,000 shares (some issued, some reserved, but that is typically irrelevant as the whole pool is normally factored into the premoney share price calculation). So, $3mm/(3,400,000+500,000) = $.7692

Valuation 53

Valuation Balance Sheet Option Pool Dilution 53

www.mattbartus.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Perspectives on issues affecting founders, startups and investors from a veteran startup lawyer in Silicon Valley. If you are a company that is fundraising, keep in mind that there are a few different levers you can pull to change the amount of dilution that the founders will experience. Option Pool.

Warrant 40

Warrant Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 40

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

These periods of time can leave a founder very vulnerable in the future. Assuming normal valuations at fund raising rounds you’ll be down to 6-12% after you’ve created a stock-option pool and raised capital. But these people seldom make retirement money from the stock options on these companies.

Founder Vesting 365

Founder Vesting Intellectual Property Stock Options IP 365