INDUSTRY INSIGHTS YOUR PEERS ARE READING
Employee options pools, typically created at the point of financings, shouldn’t be treated as haggling over dilution, but rather a strategic resource that will help founders build the best team and, by extension, a more valuable company. MORE
For example, he will explain to you how the liquidation preference works and run spreadsheets, if necessary, to show you how much money you will receive based on different sale scenarios; he will explain to you how the option pool works, including the founders’ significant dilution; and he will discuss what protective provisions are and other tricky legal terms, such as drag-along rights and anti-dilution provisions. MORE
But he dilutes his effectiveness with wordy PowerPoint presentations. I have a good business friend, an experienced manager and teacher with a Harvard MBA, whose deep thinking creativity and intelligence are admired by many. It has become a long running joke between us, as I often remind him that most of us have a very limited attention span and ability to recall important points from a presentation. Note the title and tone of these insights. Short, to the point. MORE
Startup Issues anti-dilution provisions controlling stockholders conversion rights derivative claim fiduciary duty inspection rights liquidation preferences minority stockholders oppression proper purpose redemption rights MORE
I have discussed at length why revenue sharing channel deals may serve as perfectly fine alternatives to raising equity (or even complements) because of their non-dilutive nature. MORE
For those of you that have trouble doing division, not surprisingly, that puts the average dilution right around 20%, which isn''t surprising. Dilution. then you need to take a look at the dilution numbers. Dilution is the price and you''re all pretty much getting the same deal. If you''re oversubscribed, but don''t want to take additional dilution, you can usually move the price up. But what really counts is the dilution. Dilution. MORE
Dilution. million pre-money valuation, which is a $10 million post-money) you get diluted by 25% (2.5m / 10m). But understanding how you’re likely to get diluted over time is a more difficult concept. So here is our crack at explaining the world of dilution to you. MORE
SEPTEMBER 10, 2018
Of course, all co-founders need to remember that allocated percentages will be diluted as angel and VC investors are brought in. Keep your wits about you to make sure that dilution is done equitably and evenly. MORE
I hate non-dilution rights and if you are an entrepreneur you should, too. I’m not talking about price-based anti-dilution protection that is typical in an angel or VC round. What I’m referring to is a right given to a particular stockholder so that such stockholder’s equity in the company is not diluted by any future issuance of stock — regardless of the price. Startup Issues non-dilution startup MORE
Although David is talking about taking in outside capital and founder dilution in pursuit of larger business growth and objectives, he is also getting to the same point about entrepreneur type. Business Entrepreneurship Venture Capitalists dilution entrepreneur equity Founders scalingSize of Pie, a.k.a. What Type of Entrepreneur Are You? Mmmm…pie. MORE
We were worried about dilution and thought we had more than enough money to grow. When we went out and raised the first time (four years ago), we hit our fundraising goal. We had additional investor interest and almost closed the round. MORE
But here is one that I want to focus on in this post: “Can I ask for undiluted stock (non dilution clause)?” I am not even sure what “undiluted stock” is, but safe to say the person (I will call him Exec X) meant stock that his equity would not be dilutable in terms of ownership. It is legally possible to grant non-dilution via a contractual right. Those additional grants would prevent Exec X from being diluted. MORE
I can also say that there is a similarly fine line between dilution and delusion but this one is easier to draw. So if faced with this situation, my only word of advice for entrepreneurs is that it is important to know that there is a fine line between dilution and delusion. The post The fine line between dilution and delusion appeared first on BeyondVC. MORE
This is often true when the action of the board could dramatically affect shareholders such as raising new capital, acquiring new businesses (that drain existing cash or dilute shareholders), selling the company or raising a lot of debt. MORE
Hire when it feels like you're bursting at the seems or missing a critical skill on existing team or have figured out how to scale growth — @msuster 6/ Raising capital at very high prices helps avoid short-term dilution. MORE
Of course there are times where 15% dilution is more appropriate and other times it can be 33% but in a first meeting we’re just trying to establish general ranges for reasonableness. MORE
What this investor is seeking is called “permanent, full-ratchet, anti-dilution protection”, and that is neither (a) in line with the market, nor (b) practical. Even if you were willing to give it to him, it is highly, highly unlikely to stand up beyond the next financing round, because there’s no way your next investor is going to take a dilution hit for this first one. MORE
For early stage businesses worrying over dilution when faced with an offer of more money than they need, the professional advice is most often to take the money and suffer the dilution because the money may not be available if needed later. Money in the bank is like oil in the car. MORE
Whether you’re funded, seeking funding, or still bootstrapping, here are some of the best strategies for avoiding dilution and maintaining maximum equity: 1. Doing so will prevent unnecessary dilution and it allows you to get the highest possible value for each round. Of utmost concern to many entrepreneurs is how to retain maximum equity in their startups. Rightly so. It’s a constant balancing act: growing your company without losing control of it. MORE
Dilution of focus kills too many small businesses, as they try to attract more customers and counter more competitors. MORE
Let’s get right down to business: Dilution of founders’ and other early shareholders’ equity in startups is frequently a subject of intense interest and debate. That’s the concept of what some call mathematical dilution. MORE
Equity dilution works when the same pie is divided among more people. Because the total percentage of equity will always equal exactly 100%, every time anyone gets another piece, by definition it “dilutes” all of the previous equity holders. MORE
Jason Mendelson just blogged about a new academic paper that seeks to destroy the myth that venture capitalists use inside rounds to dilute founders by issuing themselves cheap stock. The full paper is here. Dealing with VCs MORE
First, Felicis Ventures is committing 1% on top of every check the firm writes in non-dilutive capital earmarked for “founder development” in coaching and mental health. I’ve long written about the stigma around entrepreneurship and depression / other “mental health-related issues.” ” I was delighted to see two articles in the last day about others addressing this. MORE
Valuation, Size of Raise, Amount of Investment, Form of Investment, Liquidation Waterfall, Option Pool, Board Composition, Anti-Dilution Rights, Protective Provisions, Founder Vesting, *original post can be found on Quora @ : [link] *. Characteristics of the Entrepreneur. Integrity, Passion, Startup Experience, Domain Expertise, Functional Skills, Leadership, Commitment, Vision, Pragmatism, Flexibility, Personality. Characteristics of the Venture. MORE
in the case of one investment round, no subsequent investment and therefore no dilution). I have seen some complex methods for accommodating anticipated dilution, but here is an easy way to adjust the pre-money valuation of the current round. Reduce the pre-money valuation (above) by the estimated level of dilution from later investors. If only 30% dilution is anticipated, reduce the pre-money valuation of this round by 30% to about $1.1 MORE
When you do, my 20% becomes 15% and thus my true price for your round is actually higher than it appears when I invested because I already know I’m going to face more dilution for options. Option pool (likely dilution in the future, which is a function of a higher price just not yet defined). Then you’ll willing to take more dilution for them. As I mentioned if you raise $2m on $8m pre-money you take 20% dilution. MORE
Third (if you’re keeping score), it is not wise to dilute the founder’s ownership greatly in the first round of financing. Giving control over that vision to others early on often dilutes the vision and is a disincentive to the entrepreneur. MORE
Bootstrapping helps you to focus on your product in so much as … Continue reading → Financial Planning bootstrapping dilution enterpreneurship entrepreneurs equity fundraise profit margins self-fund small business financial planning startup startup financials vc venture capitalOriginally published in SoCalTech. To self-fund or to raise funds? That’s the big question that many founders ask themselves as they try to get their product and service to market. MORE
What they worry about is a whole different set of issues, including how much control they will have over how their money is spent, what will happen when future investors jump in to dilute their position and how they will get some money back if things don’t go according to plan. MORE
Of course, that doesn’t dilute the owner’s equity, but it may well limit you to organic growth, versus international rollouts and acquisition options. MORE
2) “The biggest dilution that comes to you as an individual [founder] comes before you ever see an evil venture capitalist.” I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting articles, blog posts and video clips relating to startups, entrepreneurship and legal issues. Below are my three most popular tweets for the past seven weeks. Cheers, Scott. MORE
“Be careful not to have too many co-founders; it’s the most expensive dilution you’ll ever face.” Twitter Highlights co-founders dilution quora seed seed finance startup startup ideas startups I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues. Below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly ) for the past two weeks. MORE
Before you think about diluting your brand offering or price in order to serve everyone and anyone, here are five strategies you can use to attract the right customers. MORE
It’s pretty basic but is meant to give managers (and their potential LPs) a sense of how many companies will be in the fund, ownership targets, dilution assumptions, reserves strategy, exit expectations and ultimately, a target return for the fund. MORE
Your potential investor will include the full number of shares reserved for your present or future option plan – usually 15-20% of total equity – making your personal equity 20% less when calculated as “fully diluted,” or including a reserve for options. MORE
Email readers, continue here…] For young companies, often the question is whether to suffer a new round of dilution to stimulate growth, or to sell earlier and not share the (presumably) increased proceeds with additional investors. When do you sell your company? MORE
Here is the big problem with investors – they dilute the founders’ ownership in the company. Let’s cover some basics: It is impossible to issue stock to investors without existing shareholders (founders, employees and prior investors) being diluted. It is impossible to do a stock for stock business combination without existing shareholders being diluted. But now the diluted shareholders own a smaller piece of a larger pie hopefully. MORE
Valuation — Know what these terms mean: Fully-diluted — This includes all issued stock and anything that could be converted into common stock (typically after an acquisition or IPO), such as your stock option pool. MORE
Fear of Dilution. Understand the difference between dilution and economic dilution, which occurs when the value of the business doesn’t change but the number of shares increases. Steve Rowles has been serving the San Diego startup ecosystem for over 20 years. MORE
Raise too much and you’re diluting your ownership; raise too little and your company will have trouble gaining traction or making it to the next month. Target between 15-25% dilution per round I typically recommend that founders put more emphasis on the quality of investors (i.e. MORE
Even at the cost of a little more dilution. Again, I think it’s worth taking a little more dilution than you planned if needed to get this round done as soon as you’re ready. MORE
If you can do one thing well, don't dilute your efforts until you have been turning a large profit over a consistent stretch of time. In the last few years, I’ve heard more and more about a new type of small business, called a “micro-business” (or micro-enterprise). MORE
If you are able to raise money from credible sources at a reasonable dilution percentage then I personally favor getting the round done now and building your business. How much dilution am I going to have to take now? So if you can take 27% dilution for $1.5 25% dilution). MORE
Dilution Related Topics Gust
APRIL 9, 2014
Equity dilution works when the same pie is divided among more people. Because the total percentage of equity will always equal exactly 100%, every time anyone gets another piece, by definition it “dilutes” all of the previous equity holders.
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 14, 2011
Dilution. million pre-money valuation, which is a $10 million post-money) you get diluted by 25% (2.5m / 10m). But understanding how you’re likely to get diluted over time is a more difficult concept. So here is our crack at explaining the world of dilution to you.
ithacaVC
OCTOBER 10, 2017
Here is the big problem with investors – they dilute the founders’ ownership in the company. Let’s cover some basics: It is impossible to issue stock to investors without existing shareholders (founders, employees and prior investors) being diluted. It is impossible to do a stock for stock business combination without existing shareholders being diluted. But now the diluted shareholders own a smaller piece of a larger pie hopefully.
Gust
OCTOBER 18, 2014
What this investor is seeking is called “permanent, full-ratchet, anti-dilution protection”, and that is neither (a) in line with the market, nor (b) practical. Even if you were willing to give it to him, it is highly, highly unlikely to stand up beyond the next financing round, because there’s no way your next investor is going to take a dilution hit for this first one.
Gust
APRIL 11, 2014
Let’s get right down to business: Dilution of founders’ and other early shareholders’ equity in startups is frequently a subject of intense interest and debate. That’s the concept of what some call mathematical dilution.
The Startup Lawyer
MARCH 1, 2011
I hate non-dilution rights and if you are an entrepreneur you should, too. I’m not talking about price-based anti-dilution protection that is typical in an angel or VC round. What I’m referring to is a right given to a particular stockholder so that such stockholder’s equity in the company is not diluted by any future issuance of stock — regardless of the price. Startup Issues non-dilution startup
ithacaVC
SEPTEMBER 10, 2012
But here is one that I want to focus on in this post: “Can I ask for undiluted stock (non dilution clause)?” I am not even sure what “undiluted stock” is, but safe to say the person (I will call him Exec X) meant stock that his equity would not be dilutable in terms of ownership. It is legally possible to grant non-dilution via a contractual right. Those additional grants would prevent Exec X from being diluted.
BeyondVC
FEBRUARY 6, 2007
I can also say that there is a similarly fine line between dilution and delusion but this one is easier to draw. So if faced with this situation, my only word of advice for entrepreneurs is that it is important to know that there is a fine line between dilution and delusion. The post The fine line between dilution and delusion appeared first on BeyondVC.
Scott Edward Walker
APRIL 8, 2013
“Be careful not to have too many co-founders; it’s the most expensive dilution you’ll ever face.” Twitter Highlights co-founders dilution quora seed seed finance startup startup ideas startups I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues. Below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly ) for the past two weeks.
Early Growth Financial Services
MARCH 1, 2013
Bootstrapping helps you to focus on your product in so much as … Continue reading → Financial Planning bootstrapping dilution enterpreneurship entrepreneurs equity fundraise profit margins self-fund small business financial planning startup startup financials vc venture capitalOriginally published in SoCalTech. To self-fund or to raise funds? That’s the big question that many founders ask themselves as they try to get their product and service to market.
Early Growth Financial Services
JANUARY 10, 2013
Whether you’re funded, seeking funding, or still bootstrapping, here are some of the best strategies for avoiding dilution and maintaining maximum equity: 1. Doing so will prevent unnecessary dilution and it allows you to get the highest possible value for each round. Of utmost concern to many entrepreneurs is how to retain maximum equity in their startups. Rightly so. It’s a constant balancing act: growing your company without losing control of it.
OnlyOnce
MARCH 24, 2011
Although David is talking about taking in outside capital and founder dilution in pursuit of larger business growth and objectives, he is also getting to the same point about entrepreneur type. Business Entrepreneurship Venture Capitalists dilution entrepreneur equity Founders scalingSize of Pie, a.k.a. What Type of Entrepreneur Are You? Mmmm…pie.
Scott Edward Walker
AUGUST 31, 2011
For example, he will explain to you how the liquidation preference works and run spreadsheets, if necessary, to show you how much money you will receive based on different sale scenarios; he will explain to you how the option pool works, including the founders’ significant dilution; and he will discuss what protective provisions are and other tricky legal terms, such as drag-along rights and anti-dilution provisions.
Scott Edward Walker
JULY 27, 2011
Startup Issues anti-dilution provisions controlling stockholders conversion rights derivative claim fiduciary duty inspection rights liquidation preferences minority stockholders oppression proper purpose redemption rights
YFS Magazine
DECEMBER 7, 2015
Before you think about diluting your brand offering or price in order to serve everyone and anyone, here are five strategies you can use to attract the right customers.
Feld Thoughts
SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
First, Felicis Ventures is committing 1% on top of every check the firm writes in non-dilutive capital earmarked for “founder development” in coaching and mental health. I’ve long written about the stigma around entrepreneurship and depression / other “mental health-related issues.” ” I was delighted to see two articles in the last day about others addressing this.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 19, 2019
This is often true when the action of the board could dramatically affect shareholders such as raising new capital, acquiring new businesses (that drain existing cash or dilute shareholders), selling the company or raising a lot of debt.
Startup Professionals Musings
SEPTEMBER 10, 2018
Of course, all co-founders need to remember that allocated percentages will be diluted as angel and VC investors are brought in. Keep your wits about you to make sure that dilution is done equitably and evenly.
Both Sides of the Table
JUNE 5, 2015
When you do, my 20% becomes 15% and thus my true price for your round is actually higher than it appears when I invested because I already know I’m going to face more dilution for options. Option pool (likely dilution in the future, which is a function of a higher price just not yet defined). Then you’ll willing to take more dilution for them. As I mentioned if you raise $2m on $8m pre-money you take 20% dilution.
Gust
AUGUST 30, 2012
Valuation, Size of Raise, Amount of Investment, Form of Investment, Liquidation Waterfall, Option Pool, Board Composition, Anti-Dilution Rights, Protective Provisions, Founder Vesting, *original post can be found on Quora @ : [link] *. Characteristics of the Entrepreneur. Integrity, Passion, Startup Experience, Domain Expertise, Functional Skills, Leadership, Commitment, Vision, Pragmatism, Flexibility, Personality. Characteristics of the Venture.
Both Sides of the Table
JULY 17, 2018
Hire when it feels like you're bursting at the seems or missing a critical skill on existing team or have figured out how to scale growth — @msuster 6/ Raising capital at very high prices helps avoid short-term dilution.
Berkonomics
FEBRUARY 21, 2019
Third (if you’re keeping score), it is not wise to dilute the founder’s ownership greatly in the first round of financing. Giving control over that vision to others early on often dilutes the vision and is a disincentive to the entrepreneur.
Startup Professionals Musings
JANUARY 23, 2019
Dilution of focus kills too many small businesses, as they try to attract more customers and counter more competitors.
Hunter Walker
JANUARY 17, 2019
It’s pretty basic but is meant to give managers (and their potential LPs) a sense of how many companies will be in the fund, ownership targets, dilution assumptions, reserves strategy, exit expectations and ultimately, a target return for the fund.
This is going to be BIG.
OCTOBER 10, 2014
For those of you that have trouble doing division, not surprisingly, that puts the average dilution right around 20%, which isn''t surprising. Dilution. then you need to take a look at the dilution numbers. Dilution is the price and you''re all pretty much getting the same deal. If you''re oversubscribed, but don''t want to take additional dilution, you can usually move the price up. But what really counts is the dilution. Dilution.
Business Plan Blog
JANUARY 9, 2014
Fear of Dilution. Understand the difference between dilution and economic dilution, which occurs when the value of the business doesn’t change but the number of shares increases. Steve Rowles has been serving the San Diego startup ecosystem for over 20 years.
Berkonomics
MARCH 21, 2019
Your potential investor will include the full number of shares reserved for your present or future option plan – usually 15-20% of total equity – making your personal equity 20% less when calculated as “fully diluted,” or including a reserve for options.
Scott Edward Walker
FEBRUARY 25, 2019
2) “The biggest dilution that comes to you as an individual [founder] comes before you ever see an evil venture capitalist.” I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting articles, blog posts and video clips relating to startups, entrepreneurship and legal issues. Below are my three most popular tweets for the past seven weeks. Cheers, Scott.
Gust
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
in the case of one investment round, no subsequent investment and therefore no dilution). I have seen some complex methods for accommodating anticipated dilution, but here is an easy way to adjust the pre-money valuation of the current round. Reduce the pre-money valuation (above) by the estimated level of dilution from later investors. If only 30% dilution is anticipated, reduce the pre-money valuation of this round by 30% to about $1.1
The Next Web
JULY 17, 2015
We were worried about dilution and thought we had more than enough money to grow. When we went out and raised the first time (four years ago), we hit our fundraising goal. We had additional investor interest and almost closed the round.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
If you are able to raise money from credible sources at a reasonable dilution percentage then I personally favor getting the round done now and building your business. How much dilution am I going to have to take now? So if you can take 27% dilution for $1.5 25% dilution).
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 12, 2018
If you can do one thing well, don't dilute your efforts until you have been turning a large profit over a consistent stretch of time. In the last few years, I’ve heard more and more about a new type of small business, called a “micro-business” (or micro-enterprise).
Version One Ventures
JANUARY 10, 2013
Raise too much and you’re diluting your ownership; raise too little and your company will have trouble gaining traction or making it to the next month. Target between 15-25% dilution per round I typically recommend that founders put more emphasis on the quality of investors (i.e.
Hunter Walker
MARCH 14, 2019
Even at the cost of a little more dilution. Again, I think it’s worth taking a little more dilution than you planned if needed to get this round done as soon as you’re ready.
Berkonomics
MARCH 23, 2017
But he dilutes his effectiveness with wordy PowerPoint presentations. I have a good business friend, an experienced manager and teacher with a Harvard MBA, whose deep thinking creativity and intelligence are admired by many. It has become a long running joke between us, as I often remind him that most of us have a very limited attention span and ability to recall important points from a presentation. Note the title and tone of these insights. Short, to the point.
Berkonomics
FEBRUARY 9, 2017
Email readers, continue here…] For young companies, often the question is whether to suffer a new round of dilution to stimulate growth, or to sell earlier and not share the (presumably) increased proceeds with additional investors. When do you sell your company?
Startup Professionals Musings
SEPTEMBER 26, 2015
What they worry about is a whole different set of issues, including how much control they will have over how their money is spent, what will happen when future investors jump in to dilute their position and how they will get some money back if things don’t go according to plan.
Startup Professionals Musings
JANUARY 26, 2019
Of course, that doesn’t dilute the owner’s equity, but it may well limit you to organic growth, versus international rollouts and acquisition options.
Hunter Walker
AUGUST 7, 2017
Employee options pools, typically created at the point of financings, shouldn’t be treated as haggling over dilution, but rather a strategic resource that will help founders build the best team and, by extension, a more valuable company.
Berkonomics
APRIL 26, 2018
For early stage businesses worrying over dilution when faced with an offer of more money than they need, the professional advice is most often to take the money and suffer the dilution because the money may not be available if needed later. Money in the bank is like oil in the car.
ithacaVC
JULY 7, 2011
Jason Mendelson just blogged about a new academic paper that seeks to destroy the myth that venture capitalists use inside rounds to dilute founders by issuing themselves cheap stock. The full paper is here. Dealing with VCs
Early Growth Financial Services
JUNE 26, 2014
Valuation — Know what these terms mean: Fully-diluted — This includes all issued stock and anything that could be converted into common stock (typically after an acquisition or IPO), such as your stock option pool.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 28, 2018
Of course there are times where 15% dilution is more appropriate and other times it can be 33% but in a first meeting we’re just trying to establish general ranges for reasonableness.
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