Steve Blank

article thumbnail

Startup Stock Options – Why A Good Deal Has Gone Bad

Steve Blank

Startup employees calculated that a) their hard work could change the odds and b) someday the stock options they were vesting might make them into millionaires. The stock trickled out over four years, as you would “vest” 1/48 th of the option each month. Essentially the company sells them the stock at zero cost, and they reverse vest.

article thumbnail

The New Deal – A Founding CEOs Value is Non Linear

Steve Blank

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.

Vesting 251
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Organizational Debt is like Technical debt – but worse

Steve Blank

When we did, I asked him about his head of HR, and heard all about what great medical and insurance benefits, stock vesting, automated expense account forms, movie night, company picnics, etc., I suggested that were seven things he could do – some quickly, some over time: Put together a simple plan for managing this next wave of hiring.

article thumbnail

Is Your VC Founder Friendly?

Steve Blank

Will they tailor your vesting to your contribution as a founder? By the time the company gets to the build-stage (the Transition) what differentiates VC’s is how many turn the founders into builders versus relying on bringing in new, more experienced management to lead the transition. What startup stage do they typically invest in?

Founder 231
article thumbnail

Why Uber is The Revenge of the Founders

Steve Blank

A founder’s lack of credibility/experience in growing and managing a large company hindered a company that wanted to go public. The founders along with all the other employees would vest their stock over 4 years (earning 1/48 a month). Some founders have three-year vesting. Today, these are no longer hard and fast rules.

Founder 245
article thumbnail

Entrepreneurs Are Everywhere Show No. 1: Richard Witten and Kathryn Minshew

Steve Blank

Kathryn Minshew , a former management consultant at McKinsey , is CEO and co-founder of TheMuse.com , a career platform helping 40+ million people build amazing careers. Kathryn : Absolutely and that brings me to another point which is have vesting. If you can’t hear the clip, click here. Broken startup dreams.