Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Founder Vesting [Jared Hecht/USV] – Jared joined USV earlier this year and it’ll be interesting to see how his writing changes as he adds ‘institutional VC’ to his founder and angel investor knowledge. Stretching things out to a six-year vest helps to prevent co-founder abandonment.

Founder Vesting 59

Founder Vesting Vesting Cap Table Founder 59

View from Seed

OCTOBER 11, 2022

At the seed stage and as companies scale, helping the founders I work with identify and reach their goals, personally and professionally, gives me energy and purpose. Together, we’ve co-invested and competed, commiserated and celebrated.

North America 156

North America San Francisco Cap Table Cofounder 156

Hunter Walker

OCTOBER 31, 2021

Fund people/ideas ahead of consensus — that is, find founders and markets that aren’t currently being chased by the mainstream and get to conviction ahead of the pack. If you can be more valuable than that, I’d love to bring you on to the cap table of the next seed round we lead. Lead/Co-Lead Checks of $750k+ for 8+% ownership.

Cap Table 122

Cap Table Cofounder Early Stage Portfolio 122

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

I save room in literally every deal to invite angels (or seed funds) to co-invest with me. Another founder … “When I pitched the idea to Adam, he was super on board,” Mr. Sloyan said. If anything it felt like a public service to founders to me. I simply want founders to be educated on the topic to be helpful.

Cap Table 150

Cap Table Silicon Valley Cofounder Startup 150

ithacaVC

DECEMBER 9, 2013

Also, during the process, we had to clean up the company’s cap table and make sure that we all agreed on who owned what on a pro forma pre-money basis. Without having a complete pre-money cap table, it is impossible to calculate a share price. And they were typically good answers.

Term Sheet 58

Term Sheet Cap Table Technical Review IP 58

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2022

For most founders, fundraising is a struggle. Morality aside, I’d say given the inherent riskiness of startups, I’m not sure this would be a great addition to your cap table. What’s that investor going to be like in a board meeting when you as a female founder need their support or worse, actually their vote?

Cap Table 163

Cap Table Cofounder Private Equity Finance 163

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 8, 2023

Obvious caveats to my POV here, most specifically: exposure is limited to largely the US/SiliconValley ecosystem, driven by our own portfolio, my friends and co-investors, the funds I’m a LP in, and our institutional LP relationships. Whatever gets reported is just the tip of the iceberg.

Portfolio 98

Portfolio Cap Table LP Valuation 98

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Decathlon Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Hippoland

APRIL 10, 2016

Dear elizy : I started a company in school with two co-founders. 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. Let’s call them Ada and Bob. Ok, so what would I suggest?

Cofounder 48

Cofounder Cap Table Equity Vesting 48

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 2, 2014

The acquiring company wants 100% of the proceeds to go to founders whatever the cap table says because buyers care way more about incentivizing and locking in founders than they do about VC returns or legal provisions to protect VCs. Every circumstance is different.

Cap Table 346

Cap Table Cofounder Stock Acquisition 346

OnlyOnce

OCTOBER 28, 2021

My co-founders, I’ve worked with for an average of 15 years – we know and trust each other tremendously. And for the most part, the same is true about our cap table. No institutional debt like a messy cap table, legacy people issues, leases for offices we don’t want or need any more.

Cap Table 62

Cap Table Cofounder Early Stage Leadership 62

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

Andrew Krowne and I recently co-wrote an article in Tech Crunch , Why SAFE Notes Are Not Safe for Entrepreneurs. The most serious unintended consequence occurs from “note waterfalls”— converting multiple notes that have multiple valuation caps. Many entrepreneurs lose track of what they have been cooking up in the cap table.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

Altgate

JUNE 25, 2012

Re-posted from post co-authored with Prof. —————– Dead equity — equity held by employees and founders no longer working at the company — is a large and growing problem. Founders and hires have always quit, after all, and their companies don’t always have a way to reclaim their equity.

Equity 44

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 44

NZ Entrepreneur

JUNE 21, 2022

Welcome to ‘500 Founders’ where we ask startup founders and innovators from around New Zealand, What is one piece of advice you would give to people working on their first startup and why? Thomas Clyma – Cofounder. Tina Chou – Founder. ” Dean Brown – Founder. TheTestMart.

Founder 88

Founder Cap Table Cofounder New Zealand 88

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 26, 2011

When we were last with our SayAhh cofounders, they had implemented an accounting system and Jane had contributed $50,000 for a 55/45% equity split. The investments by the founders created two transactions. Next week we will introduce the Cap Table, and show how it changes when adding a co-founder.

Balance Sheet 128

Balance Sheet Cofounder Cap Table Delaware 128

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 21, 2018

One was the result of a cofounder breakup. When they’re at seed stage, we’re deferring to the founders’ decisions but also trying to help them understand the challenges associated with a hard pivot if their cap table isn’t supportive of the direction. As Jason wrote : .

Founder 96

Founder Cap Table Seed Stage Cofounder 96

Altgate

AUGUST 25, 2012

Re-posted from post co-authored with Prof. —————– Dead equity — equity held by employees and founders no longer working at the company — is a large and growing problem. Founders and hires have always quit, after all, and their companies don’t always have a way to reclaim their equity.

Equity 28

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 28

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 3, 2020

The partner at the fund, the VC, gets to do the fun part—the meeting with founders, vetting deals, negotiating, helping, etc. Side Benefits Ideally, a small fund could get you the following, but you have to ask to make sure it’s available: Co-investing opportunities. So what’s the point? Access to the partner.

Portfolio 134

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Deal Flow 134

The Next Web

OCTOBER 21, 2013

Neil Rimer is a Partner and co-founder of Index Ventures. Yet, surprisingly, we continue to come across founders who have made significant mistakes in their early capital raises that we suspect go against their own instincts and jeopardize the foundations of the businesses they are building.

Cap Table 128

Cap Table Option Pool Angel Investor Entrepreneur 128

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

He had made some structural mistakes in NextMedium that meant the Cap Table and leadership team was a bit wacky. He reached out to younger founders and offered to help via his network at AT&T, Google, media agencies … you name it. Relationships. So what gives? Mark, why wouldn’t you fund him? I stayed close.

Partner 340

Partner Los Angeles South Africa Cap Table 340

Feld Thoughts

JULY 15, 2014

The CEO and founder, Steve Olechowski , was co-founder / COO of FeedBurner, which Google acquired in 2007. 2) Keeping the number of entries on our cap table relatively small. We recently funded Blinkfire Analytics using our FG Angels Syndicate. 2) Ability to diversify their funds without a huge minimum ticket.

Syndicate 148

Syndicate Syndication Cap Table Due Diligence 148

venturehacks.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

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. One founder companies can work, against the odds (hello, Mark Zuckerberg).

Cofounder 101

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 101

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 30, 2022

The same can be said of startups and their founders, in the sense that so many things can go wrong in the building of a company to an exit, that success almost seems to be a statistical anomaly [more on how bees fly ]. See, it happens to investors too, not just founders. So this is the other side of the coin from above.

Cap Table 67

Cap Table Venture Capital Cofounder Portfolio 67

techcrunch.com

APRIL 26, 2013

That way, startups only have one entity in the cap table, which simplifies documentation and structure. Co-founder Naval Ravikant explains that 18 pilot companies in the program, including Transcriptic, Double Robotics and Tred, received $6.7 Investors included Founders Fund, 500 Startups and Marc Cuban.

SEC 61

SEC Accredited Investor San Diego New York City 61

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

We make a point of keeping our records updated in the major data-trackers tracking the VC industry, e.g., CB Insights , Crunchbase , Dow Jones , Mattermark , Palico , Preqin , Pitchbook , and ThomsonReuters , since they are a source of data to LPs and to potential co-investors interested in us. . Pitchbot.vc 3) Originate investments.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Haystack

OCTOBER 2, 2019

Before we dive into this, let me say (1) I know a lot of people personally who run these accelerators and consider them friends (and darn good people); and (2) I know there will be a bunch of founders who will say “Hey, well, I met some great investors this way, so it can work.” Ultimately, the buck stops with the founder.

Deal Flow 106

Deal Flow Cap Table Early Stage Institutional Investors 106

BeyondVC

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

We each independently fell in love with enterprise software 20+ years ago as seed investors (cos like gotomeeting/Citrix, greenplum/EMC, livperson/IPO LPSN) and founders (workmarket, onforce/Adecco, spinback/buddymedia/salesf0rce) and are now benefiting from the ecosystems, knowledge and network that we’ve collectively developed.

Cap Table 60

Cap Table Cofounder Dividend Institutional Investors 60

OnlyOnce

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

In our prior lives, the Bolster founders worked together to scale up a business called Return Path and also. worked as advisors and mentors to numerous early stage founders and startups. The roots of Bolster Prime and Bolster Ventures pre-date the founding of Bolster. We are changing the way the startup game is played.

Silicon Valley 62

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cap Table Early Stage 62

Steve Blank

APRIL 8, 2010

He and his co-founder were both PhD’s in applied math who believe they can make some serious inroads on next generation search. Then they had a five-year P&L statement, balance sheet, cash flow and cap table. asked the founder who had spent the time crafting the perfect plan. “On It’s dynamic. “So

Business Model 328

Business Model Business Plan Customer Cap Table 328

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 26, 2022

I had gone to high school with the founders in the Seattle area, and we had recently reconnected. My boss, Jen Grant , was an incredible manager, and Aaron Levie, the co-founder and CEO, was a fantastic partner on all things communications. I tried to get hired at Better Place and failed. Enter Box. They gave me a shot.

IPO 91

IPO Cofounder Early Stage Portfolio 91

Eric Friedman

JUNE 27, 2016

Big strategic advisors are the folks that add credibility to your co. from a 10 year old co. I have seen what I call “predatory advisors” come in and really mess up a cap table by promising big intros and sales contracts only to disappear after the first 6-12 months. How many companies do you advise today?

Equity 98

Equity Vesting Cap Table Common Stock 98

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Should you co-found your company with a software development shop? I’ve talked with a number of software development shops who are eager to get into the business of cofounding companies, i.e., getting product revenue and equity instead of just consulting revenue. What are the terms of their relationship with the founder?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

Scott Edward Walker

OCTOBER 28, 2014

This week, we present legendary angel investor Ron Conway (commonly referred to as the “ Godfather of Silicon Valley ”) and Marc Andreessen , a brilliant entrepreneur and co-founder and general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Is this person rifle-focused and obsessed by the product?’” –Ron Conway (at 1:17).

Cap Table 67

Cap Table Silicon Valley Cofounder Venture Capital 67

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2019

Most founders who are raising capital look first to traditional equity VCs. RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance. Attractive to founders in controversial sectors.

Revenue 60

Revenue Liquidation Preference Equity Cofounder 60

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 21, 2017

Tech VC is a pretty mature marketplace--the players are known, the process is established, and so while relationship building might take time, usually you can estimate how long a deal will take with some accuracy (besides, of course, that it takes longer than the founder wants). 3) Find a flexible lead.

Cap Table 90

Cap Table Cofounder Valuation .Net 90

David Teten

JULY 12, 2017

I thought it might be helpful to provide transparency on how we and many of our VC peers think about optimizing the cap table for our companies. . First, a formal definition: According to Capital Dynamics , “Co-investments are direct investments in a company made alongside and on the same terms as a lead [General Partner].

Syndicate 60

Syndicate Syndication Institutional Investors Limited Partner 60

Spencer Fry

APRIL 17, 2017

As a bootstrapped startup, the only accountability you have is to yourself and to your co-founder if you have one. Now as a bootstrapped business, you’re still giving away equity, but instead of for money, you’re giving it away for time, to your co-founders and others you may work with. Having great accountability.

Bootstrapping 63

Bootstrapping Cap Table Liquidation Preference Harvest 63