Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs. The downside is loss of control and financial dilution. Old co-workers or new friends with complementary skills usually make the best partners. You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. V: Should you raise venture capital from a traditional equity VC or a Revenue-Based Investing VC? VI: Revenue-based financing: The next step for private equity and early-stage investment. II: Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2018

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. Even though initial stock has no market value today, it is extremely valuable in dividing equity ownership between co-founders, investors, and early partners.

Stock 129

Stock Vesting Preferred Stock Cofounder 129

Version One Ventures

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

This aggressive ownership target is one reason more and more founders are looking for capital from IT/tech VCs who don’t demand as much equity. And when making big investments, these investors have higher ownership targets (40-50%) compared to IT/tech VCs (20-25%).

Dilution 132

Dilution Artificial Inteligence IPO Valuation 132

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs. The downside is loss of control and financial dilution. Old co-workers or new friends with complementary skills usually make the best partners. You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2017

Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs. The downside is loss of control and financial dilution. Old co-workers or new friends with complementary skills usually make the best partners. You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity.

Hockey Stick 144

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 144

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

Many aspiring entrepreneurs jump ship from corporate environments, complaining that they want to be their own boss, only to find that investors are more demanding bosses than the ones they left. You don’t have to fight for your equity, and no one can slow you down in decision making. Spread your equity internally to build the team.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Exit Strategy 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2015

It’s disconcerting for most to realize that these shares are initially worth nothing, and the challenge is to get that value up as quickly as possible, without losing it just as quickly to investors, lazy partners and taxation. This is called stock dilution control. Minimize your own loss of ownership as major investors contribute.

Stock 120

Stock Vesting Common Stock Founder Vesting 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2013

Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs. The downside is loss of control and financial dilution. Old co-workers or new friends with complementary skills usually make the best partners. You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity.

Founder 245

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 245

Up and Running

MAY 27, 2014

You should think of choosing an investor the same way you consider choosing a business partner, because after you take their money, they become a partner in your business. And if you choose a partner based on money alone, you’re going to find yourself in trouble. (It Every time an investment is made, everyone dilutes!).

Angel Investor 119

Angel Investor Dilution Accredited Investor Due Diligence 119

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

George Deeb is the Managing Partner at Chicago-based Red Rocket Ventures , a startup consulting and financial advisory firm based in Chicago. Supply and demand. To start, let’s not forget about the obvious: the natural economic principles of supply and demand apply to valuing your business. The more scarce a supply (e.g.,

Valuation 167

Valuation Forecast Seed Stage .Net 167

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

He or she might call himself a “consulting CTO,&# “freelance CTO,&# “on-demand CTO,&# “CTO on call,&# “CTO for hire,&# or just a “technology strategy advisor.&# Also, working with a consulting CTO will prepare you for finding and selecting a permanent technology partner.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Fractional VPE 40

99u.com

DECEMBER 22, 2012

It is best to have a contract that covers details regarding any form of equity grant or compensation as well as whether or not expenses are reimbursed. Assuming no dilution (which is not a good assumption), this means you need to sell for $200 million. Managing Partner, Union Square Ventures. State expectations up front.

Turkey 40

Turkey Dilution Portfolio Exit Strategy 40

Rob Go

AUGUST 29, 2016

If there is a fixed post money on say, a $5M series A round, if the founder decides that they want to take on a bit more new capital, the existing shareholders eat all of the additional dilution. In the old world, this additional dilution would end up being shared, since the pre-money was fixed.

Post-Money Valuation 52

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Term Sheet 52

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 22, 2012

As you may have already seen , I’ve been breaking down the pitches on this season’s Shark Tank while wearing my work hat as a Managing Director at Lightspeed Venture Partners. The founders have more demand than they know what to do with, and want to raise $55k for 5% equity in the company to buy a second truck.

Pre-Money Valuation 101

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Dilution Differentiation 101

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 end up needing to add staff and take on more risk without knowing what your future demand will be. That is $12 million in profits over 3 years.

Silicon Valley 332

Silicon Valley IP Dividend Finance 332

Professor VC

JULY 25, 2013

Another closely related area is that of variable pricing on convertible debt or equity deals where different investors have different caps. Well, those 3 weeks came and went, and they decided they weren''t sure about the market and needed to get other partners in the firm on board.

Term Sheet 46

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 46

Seeing Both Sides

JANUARY 4, 2012

Your employees start doing what I call "phantom equity math" (if this company were worth a billion dollars, I'd become a multimillionare!), My partner, Chip Hazard , likes to refer to the broadening efforts as the "lilly pad strategy": focus on jumping on to a lillypad next to you rather than across the entire pond.

Lean 53

Lean Dilution Revenue Hiring 53

The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

2 founders + employee #1), the single employee at the company is a 33% partner in building the company culture and products. Note: I’m not talking about equity. In today’s market — where technology talent is in high demand — it can seem very, very expensive to rapidly prototype ideas that you will throw away.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

What is the best advice you can give for finding a business partner? Don’t quickly choose any business partner. The key is to ask the right people what they think – not your friends, parents or partner. Ideally you can pay them based + equity so that you’ll get their attention and focus on the project. A few nuggets.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

To generate long-term brand equity and trust, and maintain competitive advantage, every brand campaign should be influenced by a strategy that’s built on four principles: 1. Your brand promise talks to your employees, investors, partners, and customers. Use your marketing strategy to ensure campaigns never dilute your brand perception.

Campaign 109

Campaign Social Media Audience Channel 109

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

A lawyer I asked about it said: When the company goes public, the SEC will carefully study all prior issuances of stock by the company and demand that it take immediate action to cure any past violations of securities laws. Whatkind of anti-dilution protection do they want? Not all the people who work at VC firms are partners.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Many experienced partners are funds have 7-10 boards and most of these will need more capital. The Laws of Supply & Demand. The most basic chart of microeconomics is a supply & demand curve. Demand represents a buyer and supply a seller. This is how VCs feel. Now for every dollar a VC raises $2.50 The result?

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. Another common “failure to start” situation I see is one where the “idea person” insists that the idea is 90% of the value (and 90% of the equity). Startup decisions only get harder later, never easier.

Equity 228

Equity Intellectual Property Cofounder CTO Hire 228

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

All Unicorn participants — founders, company employees, venture investors and their limited partners (LPs) — are seeing their fortunes put at risk from the very nature of the Unicorn phenomenon itself. It will also minimize future dilution. LIMITED PARTNERS (LPS). Now you make your own decisions. ” Go public.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. Another common “failure to start” situation I see is one where the “idea person” insists that the idea is 90% of the value (and 90% of the equity). Startup decisions only get harder later, never easier.

Intellectual Property 252

Intellectual Property Equity Cofounder CTO Hire 252

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2018

As we wrote in Brand Health, 6 Important Questions You Should Ask About Your Small Business Brand , Brand health can be measured in numerous ways, including brand reputation, brand awareness, brand equity, brand positioning, and brand delivery. Consistent, strategic branding allows your business to grow strong brand equity.

Marketing 162

Marketing Charlotte Naming Design 162

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

And they make a lot more investmentsper partner than VCs—up to 10 times as many. 3 ] Because super-angels make more investments per partner, they haveless partner per investment. It will vary enormously from one partner to another. Founders never really likedgiving up as much equity as VCs wanted.

Valuation 92

Valuation Stock Partner Founder 92

Ben's Blog

MAY 24, 2021

Editor’s Note: This testimony was delivered by a16z managing partner Scott Kupor to the U.S. By way of background, I am the Managing Partner for Andreessen Horowitz, a $16.5 Second, by better matching supply and demand, direct listings have generally mitigated the magnitude of IPO Pops, thus engendering better overall price discovery.

SEC 36

SEC Accredited Investor IPO Technical Review 36