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. But if you raise at too high a price you make it harder to raise next round.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2011

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. This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. million at a $7.5

Dilution 394

Dilution Pre-Money Valuation Startup Valuation 394

View from Seed

JANUARY 13, 2021

And yes, a seed fund may have a tougher time holding on to their ownership down the road, and thus get diluted down. We’ve had multiple companies in our early funds that hit bumps and had to raise flat rounds, which hurts from a dilution standpoint but doesn’t wipe out our position. So yes, seed funds will own less. But guess what?

Dilution 399

Dilution Later Stage Portfolio Technical Review 399

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. The CFO may have a major financial background, but might be a minority owner.

Equity 238

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 238

The Startup Magazine

NOVEMBER 6, 2024

Taking on too many tasks or projects can dilute your focus and spread your resources too thin. This practice not only helps you manage your time better but also trains others to respect your schedule, which can significantly reduce stress and increase productivity. Be selective about the opportunities you pursue and the commitments you make.

Management 158

Management Entrepreneur Technical Review Dilution 158

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

That it is non-dilutive financing? Let’s say you can supplement that with $1 million in professional services revenue at $500,000 gross margin. Need I point out that the $500,000 is still profitable revenue that can contribute to your central costs of running your business?

Technical Review 403

Technical Review Startup Software Review Churn Rate 403

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

it’s the most expensive dilution you’ll ever face. And the folks at Startup Grind have been kind enough to invite me to present this morning in Mountain View on the topic. Quick summary: Be careful not to have too many co-founders. And you need to be careful about giving up control to cofounders as much as VCs.

Cofounder 388

Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 388

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

In a standard VC term sheet there is a standard term called an “anti dilution provision” and they are in nearly 100% of deals. It has nowhere near the same dilutive effects as a full ratchet except in extreme edge cases. But my $500k, while only buying 10% of the company (and now diluted down to 7.5%

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

View from Seed

MAY 2, 2019

The challenge with pre-seed rounds is that pricing will sometimes be pretty dilutive. The downside is that YC is itself quite dilutive, the program itself may not be a great fit, and there are many many companies out of your batch that won’t be one of the anointed winners. The Pre-YC Pre-Seed.

Early Stage 214

Early Stage Dilution Valuation .Net 214

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 28, 2021

Thus every serious investor reserves a certain amount of his investment capital for follow-on rounds, which allows them to stay to course to success, even with dilution. They will need more money. If you subscribe to truths one to five, startup investing can be lucrative.

Angel Investor 361

Angel Investor Accredited Investor Angel Groups IRR 361

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

But here’s the magic few people ever talk about … We’ve created more than $1.5 billion in value to Upfront from just 6 deals that WERE NOT immediately up and to the right.

Technical Review 416

Technical Review Pre-Money Valuation San Francisco Valuation 416

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2023

Make sure new solutions offered actually build your brand, rather than dilute it. The cost of any new product these days must include education and rollout marketing, perhaps equal or greater than the development costs. Even more important than solution marketing is building your brand. Solution may require new category development time.

Product 354

Product Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Dividend 354

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

Too many entrepreneurs focus on dilution. But over-optimizing for dilution is a bad attribute relative to focusing on creating a big & winning company. Bill thinks that most companies your success is usually binary. So the most important thing is to surround yourself with people who can help you succeed.

Product 350

Product Tuvalu Dilution Incubator 350

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2019

A common practice is to hire local employees who know the geographic culture, even though this may well dilute the company culture. This usually marks the end of organic growth, as partnerships and alliances aid growth, but again dilute the focus on culture. Product-line expansion. Efficiency and scale.

Dilution 224

Dilution Merger Flash Global 224

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

Dilute your cash, equity or both. But it will not help your business grow faster. What will it do? Focus the most senior person in the company’s time away from critical decision making on daily business. Create hassles for post-merger integration of technology or teams. Lead to bad blood on your existing team.

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

The reality is that if a founder raised every one of these rounds, and lead investors always got their “target” ownership, the level of dilution would be ridiculous. No good investor would want the founder/CEO of a company to have insufficient ownership by the series A, and every founder I know is sensitive to taking too much dilution.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

It also is a great way to finance your business without facing dilution before you actually raise venture capital and when the valuation you might get from angels is less than you’d want. So it wouldn’t bother me if 90% of your year-one revenue was PS provided it was done with a specific plan for year-2 software sales.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software IP Technical Review 321

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2014

Thus every serious investor reserves a certain amount of his investment capital for follow-on rounds, which allows them to stay to course to success, even with dilution. They will need more money. If you subscribe to truths one to five, startup investing can be lucrative.

Angel Investor 278

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor IRR 278

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

This might happen because to meet all investors needs they end up selling too much of the company, taking too much dilution and feeling beat up. Aren’t they getting screwed? Sometimes entrepreneurs get screwed. If you listen to conventional wisdom this is the only thing happening. As I like to point out, the truth is often more nuanced.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

It either needed to get more aggressive in pricing, pivot to a new business or business model or raise more capital (and take the dilution) in order to have more time to figure things out. The company hadn’t performed well financially and need to make changes. We sat down the three of us.

Founder 340

Founder Sacramento Cofounder Technical Review 340

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

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. The CFO may have a major financial background, but might be a minority owner. But don’t get greedy.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 22, 2024

What are the physical specs – unique hardware needed ( dilution cryostats , et al) power required , connectivity, etc. What number of qubits do they think is need to run Shor’s algorithm to factor 2048 bits. How will the computer be programmed? What are the software complexities?

Technical Review 265

Technical Review Illinois Algorithm Software Review 265

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Optimize for a W more than % dilution in these circumstances. Founders hate them because they’re dilutive. But I would point out that raising money is an existential event and I think in the coming 12-18 months you may see loss ratios (companies going out of business or selling in fire sales) go up. Down rounds are corrosive.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Startup Dilution 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2017

A common practice is to hire local employees who know the geographic culture, even though this may well dilute the company culture. This usually marks the end of organic growth, as partnerships and alliances aid growth, but again dilute the focus on culture. Product-line expansion. Efficiency and scale.

Dilution 134

Dilution Merger Flash Global 134

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2017

Thus every serious investor reserves a certain amount of his investment capital for follow-on rounds, which allows them to stay to course to success, even with dilution. They will need more money. If you subscribe to truths one to five, startup investing can be lucrative.

Angel Investor 190

Angel Investor Accredited Investor Angel Groups IRR 190

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

But the reality is that you’re faced with two problems: 1) the earlier the stage the riskier and thus more write-offs so you need to have enough ownership percentage in your winners to make up for the losers and 2) the earlier stage your check the more likely the company will need many more funding rounds behind you and thus you face dilution.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Unless you have them capture the unique aspects of the culture, it will become diluted and disappear among the new hires. These shouldn’t be random assignments but instead, offer a roadmap of possible choices and directions. Loss of Community? Your original hires embody the company culture. Declare them cultural co-founders.

Part-Time VPE 334

Part-Time VPE Employee Cofounder Hiring 334

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2015

A common practice is to hire local employees who know the geographic culture, even though this may well dilute the company culture. This usually marks the end of organic growth, as partnerships and alliances aid growth, but again dilute the focus on culture. Product-line expansion. Efficiency and scale.

Matching 120

Matching Marketing Dilution Startup 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

There are four problems: First, as the company raises more money, the value of your initial stock option grant gets diluted by the new money in. You’ll still own your stock, and you can leave and join another startup. VC’s typically have pro-rata rights to keep their percentage of ownership intact, but employees don’t.)

Stock Options 335

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 335

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

Boards are not appointed to be founder-friendly lapdogs for the 1–3 founders who start companies and usually own the largest equity positions in the company.

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

To reduce the impact of dilution, the expectation is that startup valuation should more or less double between the pre-seed to the seed, and seed to series A (ideally backed by reasonable traction/ revenue multiples). That’s yet another reason for micro funds to move earlier in the fundraising timeline.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 14, 2022

The equity dilution at this nascent stage is on desirable terms; such investing can lead to profitable returns. At this stage, the founder mainly raises funding from their sources or family and friends. If you are one of the fortunate early-stage investors to be presented with such an opportunity, it could lead to rewarding returns.

Technical Review 167

Technical Review Due Diligence India Startup 167

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Raise too soon and likely take on more dilution, wait and get valuation up (as our metrics continue to rise) but then run to a point where you have a lower cash balance and place more risks on the business. These are the hard problems we’ll have to address in the year ahead along with the perennial, “ When should we raise more money?

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Women Entrepreneurs Can

MAY 5, 2025

For example, a common issue in investor agreements is the lack of clarity around equity dilution. Having a lawyer draft or review your core business contracts ensures you’re not agreeing to terms that disadvantage you later. Legal Tech Is a Feminist Tool Business law is undergoing its own quiet revolution.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property 40

View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2019

These growth rounds may be more dilutive than planned, but will still occur without punitive terms and allow founders, teams, and early investors to emerge with very successful outcomes at the very end. The post How is the VC Asset Class Doing?

LP 256

LP IRR Distribution Portfolio 256

ConversionXL

JULY 22, 2021

Identifying and merging content targeting the same or similar keywords; Removing duplicate content that dilutes importance, and; Improving metadata so that users see what they’re looking for in search engine results pages (SERPs). It’s all about helping Google understand your website better so that pages show up for the right searches.

Technical Review 162

Technical Review SEO Software Review XML 162

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Nonetheless, many entrepreneurs don’t do this because accepting ownership dilution when it isn’t necessary, is too painful. If you tend to over-fund your start-up, you’ll perhaps suffer some unnecessary ownership dilution as a consequence. Often, this is considered as a mistake.

Cofounder 124

Cofounder Sweat Equity Equity Dilution 124