One of our recent investments, offered by Founder Collective (FC) – an eight-year-old manager with offices in Boston and San Francisco – is an excellent example of what we look for when we invest in funds offered by other managers. Investments fg next founder collective LP MORE
In most cases, exceptional startups took off thanks to their exceptional founders – the people who had the creativity and intellect to come up with potentially life-changing ideas and the guts to actually implement them. MORE
Having said that, when we talk about founders and startups we often think of it as something intrinsic to the people, something inside them, built into their very beings. In this case, I’ll use the phrase “Founder DNA&# (borrowed from Raymond Luk ). It’s not a perfectly accurate statement, but it serves our purpose well enough and it speaks to the intangibles that are a part of evaluating founders (although there are many tangible criteria too.). MORE
Conventional wisdom says that startups should have two or three founders. Some investors won’t even invest in single founders at all–so understandably for entrepreneurs this is a big issue. Most “business-focused” single founders are told right from the get go that they need to find a technical co-founder. Of the investments I’ve made to-date, six have 2 founders, one has 3 founders, and three have 1 founder. MORE
After working with dozens of startup founders, I’m still amazed that some seem to be able to do the job easily and effectively, always in control, while others always seem to be struggling, out-of-control, and fighting the latest crisis. Some founders go too far to become consensus builders. MORE
I recently heard a terrifying stat about founder suicides recently. The post Founder Suicides appeared first on Feld Thoughts. I know this post is going to be a downer but I think there is a lot more to be talked about regarding depression, mental health, and entrepreneurship. MORE
” But my post yesterday about The Power of Passion When Starting Your Company was about “founder market fit.” ” And I’ve come to believe that – especially among first time entrepreneurs – founder market fit is much more important than product market fit at the inception of the company. Founders come in with something they are super excited about. We constantly hear about “product market fit.” MORE
We don’t know how many rounds this company has raised, how many other VCs are on the cap table, nor how much the founders own. Another post from Capshare surfaced this week touching on that last bit about founder ownership at various levels of VC funding. MORE
Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. VCs competing for unicorn investments have given founders control of the board. A founder’s lack of credibility/experience in growing and managing a large company hindered a company that wanted to go public. A pre-IPO board usually had two founders, two VCs and one “independent” member. Founders in the Driver’s Seat. The founders. MORE
Mahendra Ramsinghani, my friend and co-author of Startup Boards: Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors , is starting work on his third book to be titled Depression – A Founder’s Companion. I believe now is the time for us to accelerate our awareness of depression and continue to build support systems to help founders. The post Book and Survey: Depression – A Founder’s Companion appeared first on Feld Thoughts. MORE
With nine portfolio companies (and one fund), I’ve got about 15 founders that I’ve invested in. It strikes me as odd how little founders are connected through their investors (and by extension, how little the investors in a company are connected, particularly at the early stages). MORE
One of these norms is how founder vesting and employee vesting works. Here is a good summary post from Cooley GO on Founder Vesting. There are two main reasons for founder vesting: To ensure founders stick around and build the company. To protect the founders (and investors) when a member of the founding team separates from the company prematurely. IMHO the former — having a cliff, is better for founders than the latter — not having a cliff). MORE
The right answer is to find a co-founder with complementary skills. Network to find co-founders just as you network to find investors. Co-founders are business partners for startups, so don’t be afraid to join and explore sites such as StartupWeekend, StartupAgents and CoFoundersLab. MORE
One thing I know is companies are better off when their founders remain involved in the business, even if they are not the right person to run it. I watched the Steve Jobs movie with Ashton Kutcher last night on the flight to Salt Lake City. It wasn't great to be honest but the board room scences with Jobs, Markkula, and Arthur Rock (and later on John Sculley) were pretty compelling. MORE
I saw a blog post this weekend that looked at the IPO filings of 79 tech companies and calculated the ownerships of the founders and the VCs at IPO. The result of that analysis is that the average founder ownership at IPO was 17% and the average VC ownership at IPO was 56%. I’ve written a bunch on this topic and here are two posts that address this exact issue: Founder Dilution – How Much Is “Normal”? MORE
You get to have interesting conversations with founders and review business plans and then see how these businesses evolve over the years. " Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does — @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. MORE
Just like executive recruiters recognize the best executives, a technical expert in your business domain will recognize the right combination of skill, creativity, and experience you need for a co-founder or key team member. entrepreneur recruiting startup technical co-founder MORE
In reality, so-called “Founder’s” shares are simply common stock, issued at the time of startup incorporation, for a very low price, and normally allocated to the multiple initial players commensurate with their investment or role. Invested Interests entrepreneur founders stock startup MORE
Last week my friend Chris Albinson formed an interesting new firm called Founders Circle Capital. In a nutshell, Founders Circle provides liquidity for the founders and employees of a “breakaway growth companies” so they don’t need to sell or take the company public prematurely. It takes time for the equity value to get to a point where it makes sense for the founders and employees to take a bit of their equity value off the table. MORE
Heather Anne Carson, co-founder @ Repable recently posted this on Facebook: (She didn’t ask me to write this.) WTF does that even mean? It means: You’re not a young white guy. And it’s total b t. It’s not surprising that guys feel / think this way (but saying it out loud really demonstrates a whole […]. Entrepreneurship MORE
The final event at Boulder Startup Week a few months ago was Founder Fights. A bunch of founders got in a boxing ring for a real, USA Boxing sanctioned event (three rounds, two minutes each). The post Founder Fights in Boulder appeared first on Feld Thoughts. MORE
Startup co-founder disputes are universal. Lead business partners co-founders communication leadershipIt’s just like any other close relationship–there are good moments, and there are times when you will disagree. MORE
Founders often ask me whether they should be asking for stock options in their own company. There’s no one right way to think about founder incentive compensation, but here’s how I have approached it over the years. You will go from being a founder to being an executive in your company. MORE
—– In a recent workshop with a large company focused on the Innovation@50x process, I mentioned that founders and intraprenuers operate more like artists than accountants – on day one they see something no one else does. Startup founders operate in chaos and uncertainty. MORE
Like any great relationship, a co-founders should evolve as they face new challenges and opportunities. Look for these 6 qualities in a startup co-founder. Grow Human Capital business partners co-founders cofounders human capital partnership partnerships MORE
Holiday hacks disconnect energy founders hacks holiday journaling lifehacking meditation vacation wellbeingI blew it. Everything was going so well. I started a 30 day blogging challenge, and was religiously disciplined about posting every day. I even posted after a 2-hour visit to the hospital when my. This is a content summary only. Click on the post title to continue reading this post, share your comments, browse the website and more! MORE
45 While spending years in a big company as an employee and an executive, I heard many people talking about jumping the corporate ship, dreaming of being an entrepreneur, and totally in charge of their own destiny. MORE
Today we’re proud to release an updated Co-founder Equity Split tool. We released the first version back in November to help startup founders divide the ownership of their startup fairly and rationally among their team. With this release, the tool gives founders. MORE
Lead business partners co-founders leadershipDeal with issues that might come up. Don’t lose sight of what’s best for your business just because you want to come out on top. MORE
entrepreneur founder leadership startupMost entrepreneurs assume that success is dependent on their product expertise, coupled with some knowledge of how to run a business. MORE
Yesterday, Chris Poole (known as ‘ moot ‘, founder of 4chan) shut down his startup (which created Canvas and DrawQuest ). The worst part of startup failure isn’t that the startup failed, it’s that you–as the founder–failed. MORE
Kauffman just launched Founders School - a new education series to help entrepreneurs develop their businesses during the startup stage by highlighting how startups are different from big companies. Go watch Founders School now. MORE
Though it was only $5,000, it was enough to prove to myself and my co-founder, Lauren Mosenthal, that we could actually fundraise for our startup. The post Raising Capital As A First Time Founder appeared first on The Gust Blog. MORE
One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” I want to tell them to just start anywhere, but I realize that most have no idea where anywhere is. MORE
I saw a post last week that suggested that VCs competing to win deals is leading to excess amounts of founder liquidity. I also saw this tweet from Sam Altman yesterday: if founders are selling their own stock less than 1 year into the company, you can nearly always safely pass on investing. — So I will try to summarize my thoughts in tweetstorm format: 1/ when I got into the VC business in the mid 80s, there was little to no founder liquidity. MORE
In my years of working with entrepreneurs, I have heard many times the promise that their new idea will create the next Amazon or Apple, but I rarely hear the more important promise that the founder will practice all the good habits of winning entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs. MORE
One of my favorite web tv shows – The Founders – is back. TechStars birdbox founders roximity uboolyEpisode 1 of Season 3 – Cave Explorer – is up. MORE
Long time VC watcher, writer, and analyst Dan Primack suggested on Friday that the days of VCs trying to out “founder friendly” each other are now over. Being “founder friendly” is an important way to do that. ” It has to be that way and, many times, when it is all over and done, the founder realized it was in fact best for them too. I reject the notion that being led by its founder is always what is best for a Company. MORE
Grow Human Capital business partners co-founders partnership strategic partnershipsAfter signing paperwork to form our business, we soon learned that starting a business together was much like entering into a marriage. MORE
We’ve just released our free Co-founder Equity Split tool. It’ll give you a fair and objective recommendation about how to divide your startup’s ownership, so you and your co-founders will have a sensible, real starting point for this notoriously hard, crucially important conversation. Many startup founders find themselves lacking clarity and direction when it comes time to divide their. Starting Your Company co-founders equity starting a company startups MORE
One of the free ones is on Founder’s Syndrome and Origin Stories. The post Founder’s Syndrome and Origin Stories appeared first on Feld Thoughts. CEO boulder digital arts ceo founders training video MORE
If you haven’t yet heard about Female Founder Office Hours it is an initiative you should be aware of whether you’re male, female or any other gender identify. Take Action You’ll see from the website that Female Founder Office Hours have several dates set. MORE
Founder Related Topics A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
AUGUST 13, 2017
Long time VC watcher, writer, and analyst Dan Primack suggested on Friday that the days of VCs trying to out “founder friendly” each other are now over. Being “founder friendly” is an important way to do that. ” It has to be that way and, many times, when it is all over and done, the founder realized it was in fact best for them too. I reject the notion that being led by its founder is always what is best for a Company.
A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
NOVEMBER 7, 2016
I saw a blog post this weekend that looked at the IPO filings of 79 tech companies and calculated the ownerships of the founders and the VCs at IPO. The result of that analysis is that the average founder ownership at IPO was 17% and the average VC ownership at IPO was 56%. I’ve written a bunch on this topic and here are two posts that address this exact issue: Founder Dilution – How Much Is “Normal”?
Feld Thoughts
JULY 22, 2016
The final event at Boulder Startup Week a few months ago was Founder Fights. A bunch of founders got in a boxing ring for a real, USA Boxing sanctioned event (three rounds, two minutes each). The post Founder Fights in Boulder appeared first on Feld Thoughts.
A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
OCTOBER 28, 2014
Last week my friend Chris Albinson formed an interesting new firm called Founders Circle Capital. In a nutshell, Founders Circle provides liquidity for the founders and employees of a “breakaway growth companies” so they don’t need to sell or take the company public prematurely. It takes time for the equity value to get to a point where it makes sense for the founders and employees to take a bit of their equity value off the table.
Feld Thoughts
OCTOBER 2, 2014
I recently heard a terrifying stat about founder suicides recently. The post Founder Suicides appeared first on Feld Thoughts. I know this post is going to be a downer but I think there is a lot more to be talked about regarding depression, mental health, and entrepreneurship.
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 24, 2017
One of our recent investments, offered by Founder Collective (FC) – an eight-year-old manager with offices in Boston and San Francisco – is an excellent example of what we look for when we invest in funds offered by other managers. Investments fg next founder collective LP
Gust
MAY 16, 2017
Today we’re proud to release an updated Co-founder Equity Split tool. We released the first version back in November to help startup founders divide the ownership of their startup fairly and rationally among their team. With this release, the tool gives founders.
Instigator Blog
JANUARY 22, 2014
Yesterday, Chris Poole (known as ‘ moot ‘, founder of 4chan) shut down his startup (which created Canvas and DrawQuest ). The worst part of startup failure isn’t that the startup failed, it’s that you–as the founder–failed.
Both Sides of the Table
JULY 17, 2018
You get to have interesting conversations with founders and review business plans and then see how these businesses evolve over the years. " Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does — @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric.
Instigator Blog
FEBRUARY 7, 2014
With nine portfolio companies (and one fund), I’ve got about 15 founders that I’ve invested in. It strikes me as odd how little founders are connected through their investors (and by extension, how little the investors in a company are connected, particularly at the early stages).
Instigator Blog
JUNE 18, 2014
Conventional wisdom says that startups should have two or three founders. Some investors won’t even invest in single founders at all–so understandably for entrepreneurs this is a big issue. Most “business-focused” single founders are told right from the get go that they need to find a technical co-founder. Of the investments I’ve made to-date, six have 2 founders, one has 3 founders, and three have 1 founder.
Instigator Blog
OCTOBER 27, 2016
Heather Anne Carson, co-founder @ Repable recently posted this on Facebook: (She didn’t ask me to write this.) WTF does that even mean? It means: You’re not a young white guy. And it’s total b t. It’s not surprising that guys feel / think this way (but saying it out loud really demonstrates a whole […]. Entrepreneurship
Gust
NOVEMBER 4, 2016
We’ve just released our free Co-founder Equity Split tool. It’ll give you a fair and objective recommendation about how to divide your startup’s ownership, so you and your co-founders will have a sensible, real starting point for this notoriously hard, crucially important conversation. Many startup founders find themselves lacking clarity and direction when it comes time to divide their. Starting Your Company co-founders equity starting a company startups
Feld Thoughts
OCTOBER 1, 2012
One of my favorite web tv shows – The Founders – is back. TechStars birdbox founders roximity uboolyEpisode 1 of Season 3 – Cave Explorer – is up.
Steve Blank
JANUARY 28, 2014
Kauffman just launched Founders School - a new education series to help entrepreneurs develop their businesses during the startup stage by highlighting how startups are different from big companies. Go watch Founders School now.
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 22, 2012
” But my post yesterday about The Power of Passion When Starting Your Company was about “founder market fit.” ” And I’ve come to believe that – especially among first time entrepreneurs – founder market fit is much more important than product market fit at the inception of the company. Founders come in with something they are super excited about. We constantly hear about “product market fit.”
The Startup Magazine
MAY 20, 2018
In most cases, exceptional startups took off thanks to their exceptional founders – the people who had the creativity and intellect to come up with potentially life-changing ideas and the guts to actually implement them.
YFS Magazine
JULY 20, 2017
Lead business partners co-founders leadershipDeal with issues that might come up. Don’t lose sight of what’s best for your business just because you want to come out on top.
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 20, 2013
After working with dozens of startup founders, I’m still amazed that some seem to be able to do the job easily and effectively, always in control, while others always seem to be struggling, out-of-control, and fighting the latest crisis. Some founders go too far to become consensus builders.
YFS Magazine
MARCH 13, 2017
Like any great relationship, a co-founders should evolve as they face new challenges and opportunities. Look for these 6 qualities in a startup co-founder. Grow Human Capital business partners co-founders cofounders human capital partnership partnerships
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 15, 2015
entrepreneur founder leadership startupMost entrepreneurs assume that success is dependent on their product expertise, coupled with some knowledge of how to run a business.
Gust
OCTOBER 5, 2015
Though it was only $5,000, it was enough to prove to myself and my co-founder, Lauren Mosenthal, that we could actually fundraise for our startup. The post Raising Capital As A First Time Founder appeared first on The Gust Blog.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 27, 2016
Just like executive recruiters recognize the best executives, a technical expert in your business domain will recognize the right combination of skill, creativity, and experience you need for a co-founder or key team member. entrepreneur recruiting startup technical co-founder
StartupCFO
JANUARY 26, 2016
Founders often ask me whether they should be asking for stock options in their own company. There’s no one right way to think about founder incentive compensation, but here’s how I have approached it over the years. You will go from being a founder to being an executive in your company.
A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
DECEMBER 29, 2014
I saw a post last week that suggested that VCs competing to win deals is leading to excess amounts of founder liquidity. I also saw this tweet from Sam Altman yesterday: if founders are selling their own stock less than 1 year into the company, you can nearly always safely pass on investing. — So I will try to summarize my thoughts in tweetstorm format: 1/ when I got into the VC business in the mid 80s, there was little to no founder liquidity.
The Entrepreneurial Mind
DECEMBER 23, 2016
The post Evamore Founders Share Their Story appeared first on Dr Jeff Cornwall TweetFacebookLinkedInTumblrStumbleDiggDelicious.
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 29, 2018
In my years of working with entrepreneurs, I have heard many times the promise that their new idea will create the next Amazon or Apple, but I rarely hear the more important promise that the founder will practice all the good habits of winning entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs.
Steve Blank
OCTOBER 24, 2017
Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. VCs competing for unicorn investments have given founders control of the board. A founder’s lack of credibility/experience in growing and managing a large company hindered a company that wanted to go public. A pre-IPO board usually had two founders, two VCs and one “independent” member. Founders in the Driver’s Seat. The founders.
Feld Thoughts
JUNE 27, 2018
Mahendra Ramsinghani, my friend and co-author of Startup Boards: Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors , is starting work on his third book to be titled Depression – A Founder’s Companion. I believe now is the time for us to accelerate our awareness of depression and continue to build support systems to help founders. The post Book and Survey: Depression – A Founder’s Companion appeared first on Feld Thoughts.
VC Cafe
AUGUST 18, 2017
Holiday hacks disconnect energy founders hacks holiday journaling lifehacking meditation vacation wellbeingI blew it. Everything was going so well. I started a 30 day blogging challenge, and was religiously disciplined about posting every day. I even posted after a 2-hour visit to the hospital when my. This is a content summary only. Click on the post title to continue reading this post, share your comments, browse the website and more!
Gust
MARCH 16, 2014
In reality, so-called “Founder’s” shares are simply common stock, issued at the time of startup incorporation, for a very low price, and normally allocated to the multiple initial players commensurate with their investment or role. Invested Interests entrepreneur founders stock startup
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 1, 2018
While spending years in a big company as an employee and an executive, I heard many people talking about jumping the corporate ship, dreaming of being an entrepreneur, and totally in charge of their own destiny.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
If you haven’t yet heard about Female Founder Office Hours it is an initiative you should be aware of whether you’re male, female or any other gender identify. Take Action You’ll see from the website that Female Founder Office Hours have several dates set.
A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
DECEMBER 22, 2013
One thing I know is companies are better off when their founders remain involved in the business, even if they are not the right person to run it. I watched the Steve Jobs movie with Ashton Kutcher last night on the flight to Salt Lake City. It wasn't great to be honest but the board room scences with Jobs, Markkula, and Arthur Rock (and later on John Sculley) were pretty compelling.
Bryce Dot VC
DECEMBER 22, 2016
We don’t know how many rounds this company has raised, how many other VCs are on the cap table, nor how much the founders own. Another post from Capshare surfaced this week touching on that last bit about founder ownership at various levels of VC funding.
Steve Blank
OCTOBER 27, 2015
—– In a recent workshop with a large company focused on the Innovation@50x process, I mentioned that founders and intraprenuers operate more like artists than accountants – on day one they see something no one else does. Startup founders operate in chaos and uncertainty.
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 6, 2015
The right answer is to find a co-founder with complementary skills. Network to find co-founders just as you network to find investors. Co-founders are business partners for startups, so don’t be afraid to join and explore sites such as StartupWeekend, StartupAgents and CoFoundersLab.
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 21, 2018
One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” I want to tell them to just start anywhere, but I realize that most have no idea where anywhere is.
Instigator Blog
OCTOBER 21, 2010
Having said that, when we talk about founders and startups we often think of it as something intrinsic to the people, something inside them, built into their very beings. In this case, I’ll use the phrase “Founder DNA&# (borrowed from Raymond Luk ). It’s not a perfectly accurate statement, but it serves our purpose well enough and it speaks to the intangibles that are a part of evaluating founders (although there are many tangible criteria too.).
Feld Thoughts
JANUARY 9, 2014
One of the free ones is on Founder’s Syndrome and Origin Stories. The post Founder’s Syndrome and Origin Stories appeared first on Feld Thoughts. CEO boulder digital arts ceo founders training video
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