Hearpreneur

AUGUST 20, 2023

. #1- Plan right and strategize Photo Credit: Brian David Crane One piece of advice I used to hear a lot was, “If you build it, they will come” The belief behind that statement was that if you can offer a good service or build a good product with all its bells and whistles, people will buy it. But now it is totally different.

Entrepreneur 77

Entrepreneur Cap Table Dividend Cofounder 77

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Many times we’ll never know, but the random products that end up popping because of a TikTok trend are always pretty fascinating anthropological stories. What Happens When TikTok Is Your Marketing Department [David Segal/New York Times] – Was it organic? Was it spon con? Was it both? That sucks for everyone.

Founder Vesting 59

Founder Vesting Vesting Cap Table Founder 59

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2012

They want to see your cap table, your legal documents, your major contracts, your full financial model, etc. There is no reason to part with your cap table or legal docs until you’re convinced that they’re actually committed to doing work with you in due diligence. What competitive products did they consider?

Technical Review 316

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Cap Table 316

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 2, 2017

The total value of these deals might look higher than when a tech company makes an acquihire but the premium tends to go to retention rather than the cap table (especially since (a) the acquirer might not be seen as an ‘attractive’ place to work and (b) there’s assumption of less equity upside post-acquisition).

Technical Review 115

Technical Review Cap Table Acquisition Startup 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2016

This is really an assessment of the team and internal processes as well as the product. Be prepared to present a detailed cap table, identifying by percentage all owners, investors and debtors. Related discussions include intellectual property status and plans. Competitive positioning and barriers to entry.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Cap Table Intellectual Property 120

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Our goal is to develop innovative products and features that help make recruiters jobs easier, emphasizing the importance of humans making decisions in hiring. HW: We’re going to see many more software CEOs (and cap tables) look for private equity exits like yours. We know that AI can help hiring teams do more with less.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Equity DC Leveraged Buyout 78

Hunter Walker

MARCH 15, 2018

While reading Brotopia, we were also helping theSkimm finish up their new financing , with Google Ventures and Spanx founder Sara Blakely joining the cap table. mth product delivering a seven-figure revenue stream… and growing.

Technical Review 71

Technical Review Cap Table Venture Capital Finance 71

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

We had personally invested $70,000 of our own money at this point, and we were hoping to raise at least another $250,000 to help us hire a team, launch our company, and begin to build our product. This should be clearly spelled out in your Capitalization Table , or “Cap Table” as it’s commonly called.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Some firms provide tools to model investment, e.g., Capital’s Cost of Equity estimator ; Lighter Capital’s Cost of Capital Calculator ; Indie VC’s Cap Table Comparison Model ; 645 Ventures’ cap table simulator ; and Bootstrapp.co’s Comprehensive Cost of Capital Calculator. Cash collateral. Minimum requirements.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

OnlyOnce

OCTOBER 28, 2021

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. In fact, at our peak of 500 people, the company employed one email marketer and therefore had one user of our own product.

Cap Table 62

Cap Table Early Stage Cofounder Leadership 62

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

If you have 50 investors on your cap table – I’m sorry but you really don’t know what the f**k they’re telling people about your company or whom they’re tell it to. He argues that transparency is right morally (they took a risk) and to get better quality advice. I agree up to a point. Information leaks.

Cap Table 150

Cap Table Cofounder Silicon Valley Startup 150

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

This is all incorporated into a document called a Cap Table. . A cap table will help you in the strategic management of business decisions. Wondering what a cap table is, its importance, and how you can maintain it to expand your business? What is a cap table? Let’s dive in.

Cap Table 112

Cap Table Pre-Money Valuation Stock Options Option Pool 112

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 22, 2014

Others talked as if they were the ones doing the deals--even though they''re just the ones making the cap tables in Excel. after shutting down your product, you failed. Some analysts definitely say that. Dear Analysts: No offense intended, btw. You''re smart. I was an analyst. I wish *more* people who failed went on panels.

Venture Capital 140

Venture Capital Cap Table Startup Early Stage 140

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Previous venture firms’ specific involvement on the cap table should be noted here, though. develop and launch X product, reach Y number of users, generate $Z amount revenue). For example, stating “angels” is fine, and even highlighting notable names can be useful, but it’s unnecessary to share an exhaustive list.

Cap Table 211

Cap Table Seed Stage Valuation Dilution 211

Hunter Walker

JULY 18, 2021

I wasn’t necessarily trying to do anything impressive, just taking some risk capital and putting it towards people and products that struck me as compelling. A couple of times I encountered very likable first-time founders who were operating in an interesting problem space but lacked strong product instincts or experience.

Cap Table 140

Cap Table IRR Angel Investor IPO 140

Hunter Walker

JUNE 25, 2022

Whether I’m on an org chart or cap table, I’ve historically found that culture is the most difficult part of a company to refactor once matured. Products can be built, modified, sunset. Code can be rewritten. Investors can be bought out.

Cap Table 96

Cap Table Matching Hiring Business Model 96

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

The more senior members you have (say you already have a CEO, CTO, VP marketing, VP Biz Dev, VP Products) then the less options you’ll need and vice versa. How VC’s Calculate Valuation : We walked through a standard deal where you raise $1 million at a $3 million pre-money valuation leading to a $4 million post money valuation.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Hunter Walker

MARCH 14, 2019

All the disruption can be pretty jarring to an entrepreneur, especially in situations where the exiting partner represents the top line on your cap table. You’ll often need the support – both structurally and symbolically – of some other investors on the cap table to make the case for some of the ideas below to work.

Cap Table 95

Cap Table Dilution Silicon Valley Portfolio 95

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Your Cap Table is something that deserves constant care and attention. Messy cap tables can come back to haunt you when you do a financing or sell the company. You want to see your product or service performing in the hands of real users. Your Product Plan must fit into context of your overall business mission.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Gust

JANUARY 30, 2014

Provable product need. Viable business structure and cap table. Proven team (tech/product/design/mark eting/sales/domain/etc.). Large and growing market. Real domain expertise. Scalable business model. Competitive advantage. Platform/partnership/bizd ev/API strategy. Reasonable valuation.

Cap Table 119

Cap Table API Valuation Startup 119

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 24, 2017

And while engaging substantively with those who disagree is often an excellent way to both stress test your assumptions and increase your ability to tell your story, figuring out when to stop and disengage is critical for your productivity and sanity. Especially during fundraising.

Founder 126

Founder Cap Table Conversion Operations 126

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

I found this annoying (I can’t think of a better word for the behavior) because it seemed like entrepreneurs were more concerned about the optics of the financing round than who was participating, would the lead (me) but supportive or simply focusing on building a great product and trusting that the financing nomenclature would work itself out.

Cap Table 136

Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Non-Compete 136

The Next Web

OCTOBER 21, 2013

It is not uncommon for us to come across a one-year old startup that has yet to release its product, in which the angel investors already own 60% of the company, three founders (together) own 40% and there is no option pool. Alarm bells.

Cap Table 128

Cap Table Option Pool Angel Investor Entrepreneur 128

www.readwriteweb.com

DECEMBER 29, 2011

We hope you enjoy reading them again and we look forward to bringing you more Web products and trends analysis in 2012. As Mark Suster pointed out yesterday on his blog , he's seeing more and more cases where "entrepreneurs are working hard to make sure they have as many VC names and famous angels on their cap table for signaling value."

Cap Table 47

Cap Table Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Technical Review 47

Hunter Walker

JUNE 14, 2018

Hiring, org structure, product development philosophies and so on. Who will hold the accountable to building something they’re proud of but remember we sit on the cap table, not the org chart. . “Horizontal Expertise” – We see lots of startups, we’ve built and run large teams.

Cap Table 81

Cap Table Portfolio Vertical Reputation 81

NZ Entrepreneur

JUNE 21, 2022

“When starting on the journey of bringing an idea to life you will probably think you have the best idea in the world, and nothing in the market will be able to compete with your product once completed.” “Know your competition,” would be my advice to a younger me!

Founder 88

Founder Cap Table Cofounder New Zealand 88

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 21, 2018

Only Jason’s was in the “hard pivot” category that Fred describes (“Changing the product, market, and business entirely. And most recently, Jason’s, which he describes in the link above. All three were very much the right decision. Essentially starting over from scratch.”)

Founder 96

Founder Cap Table Seed Stage Cofounder 96

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Include both positives and negatives for a more productive board conversation, which is especially critical in the seed stage since nearly everything is in “figure it out” mode. The Challenges/Setbacks section should be completely transparent to set up a candid, productive discussion. Section 4: Product Roadmap.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Certainly, bootstrapping is a preferred method of funding growth if it does not hold back the speed of growth or hobble the quality of product or service to the extent that better-funded competitors can overtake the business. There is a lot to say about retaining control.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

It is less about actual money and more about structure of your Cap Table. I think it would have been equally annoying if I had chosen to be dogmatic about it. If I had said, “You MUST call it an a round because be honest – it is an A-round! My personal definition?

Cap Table 399

Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Finance 399

The Startup Toolkit

AUGUST 29, 2012

You don’t need to collect the full set (tech, industry, product, customer, etc). I’m terrible at product design, so I have a design advisor who literally helps write code when it will make a big difference. You probably don’t need to get the cap table involved in that. Advisors aren’t pokemon.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review CTO Hire Cap Table Software Review 38

View from Seed

JUNE 11, 2019

In terms of skillset, it’s nice to have some investors that may be great at product, some that are great at helping in GTM, some that are great at thinking through business models, some that are great at personnel issues, etc. In order to accomplish the things above, you will probably want to include more than 1–2 investors on your cap table.

Syndicate 202

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Lead Investor 202

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

It was a software platform for allowing advertisers to purchase brand integration (product placements) as a standardized unit through a marketplace. He had made some structural mistakes in NextMedium that meant the Cap Table and leadership team was a bit wacky. The idea immediately resonated. Relationships. So what gives?

Partner 340

Partner Los Angeles South Africa Cap Table 340

David Teten

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

Some firms provide tools to do this online, e.g., Capital ’s Cost of Equity estimator ; Lighter Capital’s Cost of Capital Calculator ; 645 Ventures’ cap table simulator. Equity crowdfunding , e.g., Republic * and product crowdfunding , e.g., Indiegogo *. A similar, open-source, highly visual tool focused on VC is Venture Dealr.

SBIC 60

SBIC SBA Cap Table Database 60

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

In addition, I’ve noted a few multi-product lending firms, e.g., Kapitus and United Capital Source , which provide RBI as one of many structural options to companies seeking capital. . We have a special program if you are pre-seed and need product development. Limited amount of existing debt and a clean cap table”.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

OnlyOnce

MAY 26, 2022

Do you spend a lot of your time dealing with finance-related issues like fundraising, debt, investors, or cap table questions? Do they interact with all the functional leads like product, marketing, and People? Trust your gut. If you have even a little uneasiness about how your CFO is operating, it’s probably worth heeding.

Cap Table 62

Cap Table Forecast Finance Metrics 62

View from Seed

DECEMBER 11, 2019

However, as we’ve seen from recent salient stories , these can be ephemeral and don’t end up mattering in the end… they’re really just approximations based on the market for buying a piece of a company’s cap table, not buying the whole thing or making it public. VC performance signal-to-noise-ratio is low.

Venture Capital 204

Venture Capital Cap Table Partner LP 204