Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2018

I’ll never forget that great sense of excitement I felt when I incorporated my first business, and realized that I was now the proud owner of 10 million shares of common stock. Now is the time to talk to a qualified attorney, and get some discipline in place for the following strategies: Manage founder’s shares like gold with partners.

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Stock Vesting Preferred Stock Cofounder 129

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

For most startup employee’s startup stock options are now a bad deal. Why Startups Offer Stock Options. 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. Not everyone got the same amount of stock.

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Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 333

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

by Evan Stephens, tax manager at Sensiba San Filippo. In today’s start-up culture, it’s common for companies to offer employees the opportunity to own stock in the business. While most folks know the basic benefits of receiving stock, many employees are taken off guard by the tax implications that follow.

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Stock Options Stock Capital Gains Vesting 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2015

When an entrepreneur first incorporates his or her business, he or she may find him or herself the proud owner of 10 million shares of common stock, commonly called founder’s shares. Make sure the government waits for a stock sale to collect taxes. Spread stock issuance over an earning period. In the U.S.,

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Stock Vesting Common Stock Founder Vesting 120

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2012

You’ll have a peer relationship with another CEO that you have a vested interest in that crosses over to a board – CEO relationship. . You’ll get exposed to new management styles. Side note: Image is of “team awe.sm” – it seemed a better image than any of the cheesy stock photos of a boardroom.

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Founder Vesting Startup Stock 294

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2017

By the way, you will normally only be offered “options,” which vest over a 4-year period after a 1-year “cliff.” Many employees forget that there isn’t even a market for startup stock, until after the company has gone public, which hasn’t happened positively to many companies in the last few years. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

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Stock Stock Options Advisory Board Startup 140

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2013

By the way, you will normally only be offered “options,” which vest over a 4-year period after a 1-year “cliff.” Many employees forget that there isn’t even a market for stock, until after the company has gone public, which hasn’t happened positively to many companies in the last few years. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

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Stock Options Stock Advisory Board Startup 224

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. I’m also not going to give option bands for various positions.

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Programming Vesting Equity Software Review 149

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

By the way, you will normally only be offered “options,” which vest over a 4-year period after a 1-year “cliff.” Many employees forget that there isn’t even a market for stock, until after the company has gone public, which hasn’t happened positively to many companies in the last few years. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

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Stock Options Stock Advisory Board Startup 230

Board Effect

OCTOBER 19, 2020

A conflict of interest exists when a board member, officer, staff member, or volunteer has a vested interest in money, status, relationships, or reputation that has the potential to compromise their actions, judgment, or decision-making. How the conflict was managed. A conflict occurs when you have a vested interest (i.e.

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Vesting Intellectual Property Reputation Technical Review 98

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2015

At the time, Facebook wasn’t the goliath it is today and so, Choe was given a couple of options: he could have $60,000 in cash, or stock (equal to the equivalent amount of the cash back then). If however you are giving a “normal employee” an incentive stock option plan (more on that later), that’s entirely different.

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Equity Employee Stock Options Vesting 60

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 17, 2013

For many management teams, especially in rapidly growing, or mature companies, it’s an important part of their existence as culturally we’ve oriented compensation, bonuses, and future compensation around an annual cycle. I embrace this – my goal is to help these entrepreneurs and management teams win.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 29, 2015

By the way, you will normally only be offered “options,” which vest over a 4-year period after a 1-year “cliff.” Many employees forget that there isn’t even a market for startup stock, until after the company has gone public, which hasn’t happened positively to many companies in the last few years. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

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Stock Options Stock Advisory Board Startup 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.” Many employees forget that there isn’t even a market for startup stock, until after the company has gone public, which hasn’t happened positively to many companies in the last few years. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

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Equity Stock Options Advisory Board Stock 237

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

The allocation of shares among the founders, and the number and size of outside investments, will tells volumes about the health, stability, and management of the business. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary. How complex is the capitalization table?

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Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

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.

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Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

If angel investors are pressuring you to set up a board and if you don’t have the leverage to push back a little then I might suggest a 3-person board in which all 3 seats are appointed by the common stock and you agree to appoint one of these seats to the angel investor but perhaps make it either time based or event based. Legally speaking.

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Venture Capital Startup Angel Investor Silicon Valley 236

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

Giving equity is realistic, but base it on contribution and role, with vesting after time and milestones. Later you need specialists and managers. Offer low cash early, with bonuses or stock options for milestones, to people in your personal network. You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity.

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Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

The allocation of shares among the founders, and the number and size of outside investments, will tells volumes about the health, stability, and management of the business. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary. How complex is the capitalization table?

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Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

There is no limit to the number of individuals for such a board, but there is a practical limit to the amount of cash and / or stock to be allocated to these outside advisors. Alternatively, some companies pay an advisor a fee of $1,000 to $2500 per “on premises” meeting day and optionally much smaller stock grants, if any.

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Advisory Board Dilution Stock Vesting 62

Up and Running

OCTOBER 13, 2022

An ESOP, or an employee stock ownership plan, is a type of compensation plan that allows employees to acquire and own stock in your company. By using employee stock ownership plans, businesses can provide a stable value and increase the wealth of all stakeholders. What is an ESOP? Benefits of having an ESOP in your business.

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Vesting Stock Valuation Stock Options 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2010

By the way, you will normally only be offered “options,” which vest over a 4-year period after a 1-year “cliff.” Many employees forget that there isn’t even a market for stock, until after the company has gone public, which hasn’t happened to many companies in the last few years. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3% Marty Zwilling.

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Stock Stock Options Advisory Board Startup 144

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. Yet the traditional vesting model ignores this. It’s time to rethink how we vest stock for founding CEOs.

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Vesting Liquidity Event Venture Capital Founder Vesting 251

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

Giving equity is realistic, but base it on contribution and role, with vesting after time and milestones. Later you need specialists and managers. Offer low cash early, with bonuses or stock options for milestones, to people in your personal network. You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity.

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Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

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. Extend Your Stock Option Exercise Period. Prep your manager, peers to be references. So let me take a (non-exhaustive) cut at Things You Should Know If You’ve Been RIF’ed….

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Stock Options Vesting Stock Valuation 94

Altgate

JUNE 25, 2012

Thanks to that one decision, he owns nearly four million shares of stock, worth in excess of $100 million. They fail to include vesting terms (i.e., It is more common that startups include vesting terms for their non-founding hires. Startups overwhelmingly use “4 years of vesting” as a rule of thumb; as shown in Figure 8.8

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Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 44

www.mattbartus.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

We will grant him/her X% fully diluted shares up front, and every time he/she makes an introduction, he/she will vest in 100 shares.” People tend to underestimate how much record keeping is involved with managing employees and consultants, and this just adds an unacceptable extra burden. What are the potential issues? Categories.

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Equity Vesting Silicon Valley Intellectual Property 40

Berkonomics

JANUARY 25, 2024

Board members or lead investors as coaches If you take smart money from a good angel or venture organization, the lead investor usually becomes your board member and has a vested interest in your success. And some will willingly work for stock options, an amount to be negotiated based upon time spent and stage of corporate development.

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SBA Warrant Stock Options Vesting 62

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Leadership & Managing | Tuesdays. LEADERSHIP & MANAGING. Managing Creativity. Before Roving Software could receive its first round of financing from professional investors, in early 1999, he had to put all the stock arrangements in writing. Technology | Thursdays. Small Business Success | Mondays and Thursdays.

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Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

techcrunch.com

JUNE 22, 2012

For example: If an advisor meets with the founding team monthly, is involved in recruiting talent for the business, and takes a few customer calls, then that advisor would be entitled to 1 percent of the company in the form of restricted stock or options, vesting over a two-year time frame. Are There Too Many Stock Exchanges?

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Equity San Francisco Startup Silicon Valley 94

www.informationarbitrage.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Read more » Recent Press The New York Times April 22, 2009 - A Company Plans to Market Illiquid Assets CNBC.com April 8, 2008 - Social Stock Picking Reuters April 6, 2009 - Bit.ly They might give them too much stock, and even have that stock not subject to vesting provisions. Camaraderie? Perhaps all of the above.

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CTO Hire Founder Cap Table Vesting 40

Hunter Walker

JULY 2, 2022

We have a generation of professionals who grew up on dating apps, where ghosting has been accepted as an annoying, but common, phenomenon,” he [Keith Wolf, a managing director, Murray Resources] said. “I Get them on your benefits, start vesting their stock and so on. I believe that is leaking into the professional world.”.

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Hiring Vesting Early Stage Stock 93

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 20, 2021

Per head companies that have a vested interest in your success is an excellent place to start. Some companies use put option or call option strategies to cut risk on their stock price. Others, smaller companies, manage inventory. You want to look for a company that serves as your partner. Risk mitigation tools.

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Operations Software Vesting Partner 158

Gust

APRIL 9, 2014

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.). The Founder of a company starts by owning all the shares representing ownership of the company.

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Dilution Equity Vesting Stock Options 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2011

By the way, you will normally only be offered “options,” which vest over a 4-year period after a 1-year “cliff.” Many employees forget that there isn’t even a market for stock, until after the company has gone public, which hasn’t happened to many companies in the last few years. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

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Equity Advisory Board Stock Options Stock 234

Growthink Blog

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Gordon Gekko may have a new movie coming out, but the days of the jolly old stock market he once knew are gone forever. public stock market performance over the past 11 years has been. With 90 million Americans with money in the stock market, there is zero political hay in noting that 99.9% of these investors (i.e.

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Stock Vesting Japan Algorithm 48

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

The first bracket is the senior management team; the CFO, Chief Revenue Officer/VP Sales, Chief Marketing Officer/VP Marketing, Chief Product Officer/VP Product, CTO, VP Eng, Chief People Officer/VP HR, General Counsel, and anyone else on the senior team. Grants for CEOs and COOs should and will be made by the Board.

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Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64