David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. From traditional equity VC, Flexible VC borrows the option to pursue and reap the rewards of an outsized exit. Of the Inc.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

I like to say that “there are only co-founders” — it’s extraordinarily rare for a successful business to have just a sole founder. But not all co-founders are equal in terms of title, ownership, responsibilities, and so forth. Sometimes co-founders put off the equity split question for some time.

Cofounder 173

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 173

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

I read commentary or Twitter or blogs and realize that there are also strongly held convictions that there are these evil VCs who do terrible things to mostly altruistic founders. But unlike the popular press reporting of this conflict — 80% of the time it is founder-to-founder conflict and not investor-to-founder conflict.

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

Still, there are a lot of downsides to taking venture money—the push to grow at all costs, our desire to be all up in your business, literally, and sometimes, we’re kind of obnoxious. Some of these folks are founders and CEOs, but not at high-growth tech startups. It will save everyone a lot of cost and time.

.Net 88

.Net Cap Table Startup Technical Review 88

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Every entrepreneur needs to understand the following basics, to be addressed at company formation, as they engage a qualified attorney to draw up the paperwork: Allocate founder’s stock commensurate with commitment. Key founder vesting should have no cliff. This is called stock dilution control.

Stock 240

Stock .Net Vesting Founder Vesting 240

View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Editor’s note: Understanding how to divide founder equity at a startup can be tricky, even to the point of reaching emotional riffs between founders. Below, Lee Hower offers advice for approaching these equity discussions objectively and properly.

Equity 315

Equity Founder Sweat Equity Cofounder 315

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2021

Every entrepreneur needs to understand the following basics, to be addressed at company formation, as they engage a qualified attorney to draw up the paperwork: Allocate founder’s stock commensurate with commitment. Key founder vesting should have no cliff. This is called stock dilution control.

Vesting 298

Vesting Dilution Stock Founder Vesting 298

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

They have equipment and smart students that would otherwise cost you a fortune through an outside contract. Most universities have a file of patents from project work that they are willing to license to any entrepreneur for business commercialization, with little or no cost up front. Attract a co-founder and key team members.

Arizona 276

Arizona Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Entrepreneur 276

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

This structure offers some of the benefits of traditional equity VC, without some of the negatives of equity VC. I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Should you co-found your company with a software development shop? Not surprisingly, the list above also is ranked from least to most equity stake in an investment for the investor, relative to the cash they invest. The question is: how should they be compensated when cofounding a company? mentor VCs, e.g., most VCs. The cliffs?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

What is it, and how should founders think about it? It can be lower cost and can either buy more time or accelerate growth. Glen Mello: Venture debt is a good complement to equity. It’s generally got a lower cost compared to equity capital and can help support growth. What are some pros and cons?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2013

One of the challenges for investing in startups has always been the lack of an established way for founders and investors to actually measure and decide on the valuation of the startup concerned. “If you are an angel investor and a venture is seeking capital from you, insist on getting its Worthworm report.

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Web Technical Review Angel Investor 150

The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Andrew is the co-founder and CTO of Parse.ly , a technology startup that provides big data insights to the web’s best publishers. He wrote: When startups die, the official cause of death is always either running out of money or a critical founder bailing. Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Andrew Montalenti.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

years ago and told me, “I just got offered the chance to buy this company because the founder doesn’t want to continue. I can save tons of development time and I think I can buy it for all equity. How much dilution should I take for it?&# My friend’s company was pre-revenue. Me: “Zero dilution.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

They have equipment and smart students that would otherwise cost you a fortune through an outside contract. Most universities have a file of patents from project work that they are willing to license to any entrepreneur for business commercialization, with little or no cost up front. Attract a co-founder and key team members.

Arizona 310

Arizona Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Dividend 310

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Should You Share Equity with Consultants? To grow his cash-strapped start-up, Parker ended up sharing equity -- not only with employees, but also with consultants and vendors. Parker found that equity as compensation helped build loyalty to his company -- even among consultants. But sharing equity can have pitfalls, too.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2011

Clavier began his presentation at the beginning of a company's lifecycle, asking how many co-founders a startup ought to have. If you like this kind of advice, check out my coverage of a talk by Paul Palmieri, Co-Founder and CEO of mobile advertising service Millennial Media, titled " Investing in Your Influencers. ".

Investment Bankers 153

Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

www.quora.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Type to Add and Search Questions; Search Topics and People Startups Startup Compensation Entrepreneurship Compensation Stock Options Major Internet Companies Silicon Valley Why is there such a large founder to early employee equity drop-off? This ties into this Paul Graham article: [link] /equity.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40

Austin Startup

JUNE 30, 2017

TL;DR : Elite accelerators have cemented themselves as the universities of the entrepreneurial world; offering a bundle of resources in exchange for a price (tuition in form of equity). Background / Related Reading: Founder Education Gatekeepers and Ecosystems What is the purpose of universities?

Curation 48

Curation Startup Cofounder Equity 48

Feld Thoughts

JULY 29, 2011

Finance Friday’s gets off the ground with today’s post by introducing you to an imaginary startup, the entrepreneurs that we’ll being following throughout the series, and their first challenges: splitting up the founders’ equity and addressing the case where one of the founders provides the initial seed capital for the business.

Equity 137

Equity Finance Pre-Money Valuation Denver 137

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2018

Of course, initially these founder’s shares were worth essentially nothing, but it doesn’t take much of an imagination to grasp the possibilities. 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.

Stock 129

Stock Vesting Preferred Stock Cofounder 129

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

After the recent announcement of the Series Seed Financing documents by Marc Andreesen, Brad Feld points out that there are now four sets of “open source&# equity seed financing documents: TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents (by Cooley). Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). under $500K).

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

” Today I want to talk about how a VC thinks about equity pricing on your round and particularly if you’re coming off of a convertible note. If you’re a solo founder and haven’t built out your team or engineers I’m likely to want 15+%. Then you’ll willing to take more dilution for them.

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Post-Money Valuation Dilution 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2015

Every entrepreneur needs to understand the following basics, to be addressed at company formation, as they engage a qualified attorney to draw up the paperwork: Allocate founder’s stock commensurate with commitment. Key founder vesting should have no cliff. This is called stock dilution control.

Stock 120

Stock Vesting Common Stock Founder Vesting 120

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2019

Most founders who are raising capital look first to traditional equity VCs. Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) is a new form of VC financing, distinct from the preferred equity structure most VCs use. For more background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Less or no dilution.

Revenue 60

Revenue Liquidation Preference Equity Cofounder 60

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 25, 2018

It was there that I met Eric Simone (one of the first investors in Bazaarvoice) as well as Josh Baer (one of the first investors in Bazaarvoice through his team building our first solution and getting paid primarily in equity versus cash). Still in business today and run by my co-founder. Below is a post I wrote on their Yahoo!

Bootstrapping 48

Bootstrapping Austin Equity Cofounder 48

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

They have equipment and smart students that would otherwise cost you a fortune through an outside contract. Most universities have a file of patents from project work that they are willing to license to any entrepreneur for business commercialization, with little or no cost up front. Attract a co-founder and key team members.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Entrepreneur Incubator 120

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

You are either bought for stock or for equity. Is your crappy little 12-person company really worth they and their shareholders diluting by 2% given more than a decade they’ve put in building one of the Internet’s most solid business social networks? You just said, “nobody would take 1-2% dilution.”

Valuation 316

Valuation Balance Sheet Dilution Term Sheet 316

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

My founders and I started the company about three years ago. The DIY mentality can really bog you down and become a burden eventually, plus it can really cost you more time and money in the grand scheme of things. I just wanted to break down those two pieces real quick the time side and the cost side.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

Scott Edward Walker

FEBRUARY 6, 2016

“I didn’t even know what a vesting schedule was… [and] that mistake probably cost me billions of dollars.” Just in the last week, I received three phone calls from potential new startup clients who had issues between the co-founders and no vesting schedules. Mark would thus hold 94% of the equity, subject to future dilution.

Vesting 40

Vesting Cofounder Equity Dilution 40

venturehacks.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

The Equity Equation. As this nuclear winter of venture hacks continues, I thought you might enjoy our thoughts on Paul Graham’s The Equity Equation. ” Read the rest of The Equity Equation first; it is great. You have to pay market rates regardless of the equity equation. Venture Hacks Good advice for startups.

Equity 40

Equity Cap Table Valuation RSS 40

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 14, 2012

It costs Cozy Bug about $6 to make a dress (which will presumably go down with scale). Instead of taking equity, he asked for a $2 per dress royalty until he recovered his capital, then $1 per dress thereafter. How should the entrepreneur think about Kevin’s royalty offer against Lori and Daymond’s equity offer?

Equity 164

Equity Dilution Redemption Distribution 164

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Outsourcing is something a big company, with a known customer / problem (that has revenue & traction) does to save cost. Whats is the best way to find a co-founder for your startup? However, one of my co-founders doesn’t seem to be as motivated as the rest of us. Non of this academic stuff.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

David Teten

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

In particular, this model is designed to help all team members understand the impact of dilution on their options. Such a model is particularly helpful for those founders looking for a co-founder or key employee. Such a model is particularly helpful for those founders looking for a co-founder or key employee.

Employee 155

Employee IRR Startup Mexico 155

Austin Startup

MARCH 7, 2021

It seems like every day there is a new headline about an exceptional startup founder, investor, or corporate headquarters moving to Texas. The Innovation Center at Houston’s TMC (TMCx), co-located with Johnson and Johnson’s J-Labs, and the Center for Medical Device Innovation, drive medical innovation. Joe Lonsdale. Drew Houston.

Texas 90

Texas San Antonio Houston Dallas 90

venturehacks.com

MARCH 21, 2008

If your company hasn’t raised a Series A, increase the advisor’s equity by roughly 30%-50% to account for dilution from seed investors, Series A investors, option pools, swimming pools, and the like. Finally, there is a beauty to paying in equity rather than an equivalent amount of cash. What are advisory shares?

Advisory Board 44

Advisory Board Cap Table Vesting Equity 44

Startup Company Lawyer

MAY 4, 2009

Adeo Ressi , the founding member of TheFunded , recently announced the establishment of TheFunded Founder Institute. The Founder Institute helps founders launch innovative companies by providing training, services, and company-building assignments, such as incorporating the business, filing provision patents, and setting up books and records.

Founder 28

Founder Warrant San Francisco Intellectual Property 28