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Startup Stock Options – Why A Good Deal Has Gone Bad

Steve Blank

VC’s have just changed the ~50-year old social contract with startup employees. For most startup employee’s startup stock options are now a bad deal. Why Startups Offer Stock Options. This “we’re all in it together” kept founders and employees aligned on incentives. Here’s why.

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Venture Capital Q&A Session

Both Sides of the Table

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. In fact, far better if you haven’t raised venture capital.

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Bad Notes on Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

On the phone … Me: So, you raised venture capital? Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? Stock Option plans. We raised a seed round. About $1 million. Me: At what price? Him: It wasn’t priced. We raised a convertible note. Me: With a cap?

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What Founders Need to Know: You Were Funded for a Liquidity Event – Start Looking

Steve Blank

Founders can now access the largest pool of risk capital that ever existed –in the form of Private Equity (Angel Investors, family offices , Venture Capitalists (VC’s) and Hedge Funds.). At its core Venture Capital is nothing more than a small portion of the Private Equity financial asset class.

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The Long-Term Value of Loyalty

Both Sides of the Table

Moving on … My second post was directed at employees. If you’ve done it for a long time then I usually advise hiring managers to hire you as contractors and not full-time employees. No employees wanted to join startups – they were all looking for stable jobs. It’s a subjective topic.

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How to Raise Startup Funding from Unlikely Angel Investors

Up and Running

According to the Angel Capital Association: Angels (private money) invest in 55,000 startups each year versus 1,500 companies by VC (venture capital) funding. Capitalization Table and Shareholder Roster. Stock Option. Not coincidentally, most venture funded companies will also fail.

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Should Startups Care About Profitability?

Both Sides of the Table

It was a stock option incentive related “expense” but I bet you didn’t know that because in an era where we only read the headlines — they must be a train wreck losing billions. They raised $5 million in venture capital to fund growth. Or you know the other one — the one where Snapchat lost $2 billion in just one quarter.