Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

When I first read Paul Graham’s blog post on “High Resolution&# Financing I read it as a treatise arguing that convertible notes are better than equity. He’s fine with equity provided it’s cheap to paper it legally. Photo credit: D. Blanchard/O’Reilly Media. and not a min.

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

You never got around to agreeing exact equity splits but you had many conversations about it. Shame about not getting it in legal writing that you owned the original IP. Forget to get around to setting up that Employee Stock Option Plan and want to be able to give the early guys their options at a low strike price?

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

Public investors, cross-over investors, and even traditional private equity firms have taken notice, further blurring the lines of what constitutes true venture capital. During this time, there’s financial leverage used in the transaction to help buffer the firm’s cost of capital (e.g. 3/ Crypto Hibernation.

Technical Review 165

Technical Review Venture Capital Russia China 165

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Great lifestyle, great cost of living, motivated people and only the crap weather on the negative side. When you account for competition for talent, the difficulty of retention, the cost of living and the difficulty of rising above the noise – there are many advantages of staying put. The ingredients are all here.

Seattle 317

Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

Hunter Walker

MAY 13, 2023

Sometimes you’d even get lucky and receive stock in the acquirer, which was how I gained pre-IPO equity in high growth stars like Pinterest and Facebook. I was on both sides of these transactions – buying startups for Google/YouTube and angel investing in high quality technical founders.

Early Stage 117

Early Stage Cap Table Acquisition Sales 117

www.greenhornconnect.com

OCTOBER 3, 2011

1) You and your partners have developed IP critical to your business. Intellectual property is the most valuable asset most startups possess, so it is crucial that the startup, not the founders, own IP developed for the business. 2) You’re hiring employees. 2) You’re hiring employees. are not met.

IP 40

IP Intellectual Property Limited Liability Company Boston 40

Hearpreneur

MARCH 4, 2022

Four years ago, I had an idea to create a company that could cost-effectively recreate meat experiences without animals and lighten humanity's footprint on the planet. This statement rings true for my employees as well as my clients. Thanks to Lauren Edwards-Williams, Legend IP Consulting ! #26- 9- Making impact.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Technical Review Restful Colorado 126

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

They’re looking to be paid properly in the context of the overall salary structure, including cash, benefits, and equity, and to be paid commensurate with performance. Startups often hand out shares, options, and warrants for employees and for contractors rendering needed services. Can you acquire them at a sustainable cost?

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

We went with equity because ivestors would prefer to get equity for the following reasons: 1. One of the reasons notes have become so popular is that the equity documents were too expensive. All of those cost us as much if not more in legal time than the seed round. Posted by: toby | 03/01/2010 at 09:52 PM.

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? There are a million ways to do quick, easy, low-cost rounds with prices. “But lawyers will charge much more for equity.” Try doing THAT with equity. Him: Not so good. Obviously he’d be pissed off. Me: I know. And so forth.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

The founders could reinvest this in growth (0% tax, focus on future equity growth) or take the profits of $12 million and divide amongst the founding partners. You own the IP you create. You don’t necessarily want to take on the extra employees and risks. That is $12 million in profits over 3 years. This is a huge mistake.

Silicon Valley 332

Silicon Valley IP Dividend Finance 332

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

IP Location Tools. tells you how much adwords cost. BambooHR -Â Employee Records, Benefit Information, Payroll Data, etc. hire low-cost international engineering talent. YCombinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents. Founder Equity Issues. Venture Hacks equity section. Legal, Equity, etc.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Instead of hearing from your long lost third-cousin, you will be inundated with an avalanche of ‘congratulatory’ emails, calls and letters from people who want to relieve you of the burden of your hard-earned equity round. Many such ‘congratulations’ will come from consultants.

Equity 40

Equity Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 40

Gust

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Readers can anticipate my next point in continuing the analogy: It makes no more sense for a non-lawyer to prepare fundamental legal, governance, equity and intellectual property documents than it would for a patient to self-diagnose and begin taking prescription-strength antibiotics or other medications. Offer letters for employees.

Intellectual Property 139

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Delaware Stock 139

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

Michael is a very accomplished corporate executive in his own right having run Sega Gameworks and helped IPO EuroDisney as well as having been on the founding team of DreamWorks SKG (where he helped them raise their first $900 million in equity). Has 85 employees in London and Nottingham. We discussed: 1. TechCrunch.

IPO 242

IPO Venture Capital Private Placement Cofounder 242

grasshopperherder.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Piercing the Corporate Veil – Sweat Equity Consulting. Some have been as co-founder, most have been as a consultant with the possibility of becoming an paid employee, “as soon as we close our funding round.” If you did, why would you be consulting for sweat equity instead of investing as a VC or for yourself?

Sweat Equity 41

Sweat Equity Equity Cofounder Non-Compete 41

www.metamorphblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Here’s how the pitch sounds from the engineer’s perspective: ‘For ten whole percent of equity, you will slave away to build a prototype out of my shitty idea, not have any say in the decision-making process…and oh yeah, you could be fired at any point.’ Date for a bit, then split the equity.

Founder 51

Founder Startup Cofounder Vesting 51

Startup Company Lawyer

JULY 20, 2009

If there is more than one founder, the likelihood of an argument about how the equity should be split in the new company increases dramatically. Incorporating a company and issuing stock to the founders will help prevent misunderstandings among the founders about equity splits. Hiring employees or third party contractors.

IP 67

IP Stock Options Preferred Stock Capital Gains 67

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

Apple Declared "Marketer of the Decade" This iPhone 4 Costs $8 Million Next Apple Event Goes "Back to the Mac" View More » Mobile Starbucks Stores in New York Now Acce. SCVNGR Makes Major Enhancements to iP. Steve Jobs Speaks Candidly About the. 10 Wonderful Wildlife iPhone Photographs Android Gingerbread Confirmed, Mascot.

Angel Investor 84

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 84

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

Apple Declared "Marketer of the Decade" This iPhone 4 Costs $8 Million Next Apple Event Goes "Back to the Mac" View More » Mobile Starbucks Stores in New York Now Acce. SCVNGR Makes Major Enhancements to iP. Steve Jobs Speaks Candidly About the. 10 Wonderful Wildlife iPhone Photographs Android Gingerbread Confirmed, Mascot.

Angel Investor 83

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 83

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 15, 2020

You really want to see how your company treats its employees, treats its customers, treats the environment, taking a longer-term view." What's the cost of delay? Robert Rhinehart : The cost of delay is deceptively enormous, especially when it comes to people's health. So the cost of delay is immense.

Technical Review 68

Technical Review Software Review Finance Technology 68

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? There are a million ways to do quick, easy, low-cost rounds with prices. But lawyers will charge much more for equity.” Try doing THAT with equity. Him: Not so good. Obviously he’d be pissed off. I hadn’t really thought about it. Me: I know.

Liquidation Preference 153

Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet Stock 153

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

The investors and the entrepreneurs are – or should be – aware that the price of the company’s equity is set by the market – in simplest terms, what an informed buyer is willing to pay.   Note that this applies only to earl stage Series A-type equity financings and assumes no cash dividends are paid to investors.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Outsourcing is something a big company, with a known customer / problem (that has revenue & traction) does to save cost. I have a proposal written up including full cost and revenue projections. Ideally you can pay them based + equity so that you’ll get their attention and focus on the project. They care about real product.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

My way of explaining our support and service role to the marketing department was that: Sales is the sharp end of the stick, and marketing at best, is the stick. But while the sales team works for commission, the rest of the employees have equity (stock) in the company. It varies by company and changes over time.

Silicon Valley 126

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 126