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Equity for Early Employees in Early Stage Startups

SoCal CTO

I was asked by a reader how much equity he should give out to early employees and to service providers in a very early stage startup. I'll get to service providers in a later post. Founders vs. Early Employees To help with this discussion, let me start with a definition of "early employee." million.

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What Founders Need to Know: You Were Funded for a Liquidity Event – Start Looking

Steve Blank

As part of the deal you signed with your investors was a term specifying the Liquidation Preference. The liquidation preference determines how the pie is split between you and your investors when there is a liquidity event. Your investors funded you for a liquidity event. Lessons Learned.

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Some Career Advice for Aspiring Tech CEOs

Both Sides of the Table

This is because this “liquidation preference” gets returned to investors before you see any money – restricting the executive outcomes in mid-sized exits. In Ian’s post he rightly points out that stepping into a role with $15 million in paid-in capital that has already been spent can be a problem.

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Thinking big and doing stuff properly

The Equity Kicker

Good examples include Zappos’s legendary customer service, Steve Jobs’s almost maniacal obsession with great product design, and, as many of us were saying in Dublin at the weekend, the way Paddy and his team worked hard to make every element of the F.ounders experience top notch.

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How to Work with Lawyers at a Startup

Both Sides of the Table

You need to know how liquidations preferences work. The agreement they sent said, “we may offer your services to our customers.&# This went unnoticed by the CEO and the lawyer. It’s an awesome service to entrepreneurs, thank you. You need to own your legal agreements. I asked a simple question.

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So What is The Right Level of Burn Rate for a Startup These Days?

Both Sides of the Table

People who think of fund raising as a “distraction away from the core business” fundamentally don’t understand that running a business comprises of: Shipping products, selling to & servicing customers, marketing, HR, recruiting, financial reporting AND making sure you have enough money to support operations.

Burn Rate 150
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Facebook’s acqui-hires–$24m on four companies in H1 2012

The Equity Kicker

This analysis assumes there was no participating liquidation preference and lumps together companies that have raised money with those that haven’t, but I think it is fair to guess that in aggregate the investors in these companies didn’t get what they set out for. Karma – a social, mobile gifting service.