Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

In the old days VCs funded off of a “pre-money” valuation. If you add the pre-money valuation (let’s say $8 million) to the amount of money you’re raising (let’s say $2 million) you get the post-money valuation. How much is in the option pool? Why do investors care about this?

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Post-Money Valuation Dilution 150

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

The reports showcase raw data, analytics, visualizations, and benchmarking statistics on the company from dozens of sources, including team, intellectual property, technology, product, financial, banking, marketing, customer, risk, valuation, and investment information.”. ff Venture Capital hired two full-time engineers to build out Totem.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 7, 2017

But employee option pool is important enough that I wanted to briefly expand upon my comment above. While you should expect these sorts of hires to take below market cash comp versus what Google is paying them, this tradeoff needs to be replaced with equity upside.

Equity 94

Equity Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Founder 94

www.mattbartus.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

How to pump up your VC valuation. Let’s say you receive a term sheet for a $1 million investment at a $3 million fully diluted pre-money valuation, and you’re kind of disappointed. You have a 20% option pool, so you know this will take your ownership down from 80% to 60%, and the VC will get 25%. Option Pool.

Warrant 40

Warrant Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 40

Austin Startup

JANUARY 25, 2020

This was my time at a Wall Street firm that had hired me after I applied for their Junior Stockbroker position, a little while after I graduated from college. But before we got back to work, we had to hire a lawyer to help out with both the SAFE docs and to file our FORM D with the SEC so we can register our raise.

Delaware 62

Delaware SEC New York City New York 62

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Youdnegotiate a round size and valuation with the lead, whod supplysome but not all of the money. Standardized paperwork will do away with the need tonegotiate anything except the valuation, and that will get easiertoo. Butthere may not have to be just one valuation. In the old days, the standard m.o.

Startup 93

Startup Valuation Non-Compete Deal Flow 93

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Another concept we need to introduce now is valuation. I say "in theory" because in early stageinvesting, valuations are voodoo. As a company gets more established,its valuation gets closer to an actual market value. As a company gets more established,its valuation gets closer to an actual market value. Better how?

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Early Growth Financial Services

JUNE 26, 2014

Baze, Partner at Partech Ventures, Carlos Diaz, CEO at Kwarter, and EGFS’ Chief Strategy Officer Glenn McCrae covered raising funds, how-to pitch VCs, and potential sticking points around valuation. Pre-money valuation — The value of the company prior to investment, calculated on a fully-diluted basis.

Pre-Money Valuation 51

Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Dilution Common Stock 51

ithacaVC

DECEMBER 13, 2013

The share price is calculated by taking the pre-money valuation and dividing it by the number of shares outstanding pre-money. So Share Price (SP) = Pre-Money Valuation (PMV) / Shares Outstanding (SO). On a fully diluted pre-money basis, that would mean the option pool represents 14.5% (356,758/2,456,758) of the cap table.

Cap Table 67

Cap Table Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Liquidation Preference 67

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Back in 1997, Randy Parker was staring at a blank whiteboard, wondering where hed find the money to hire the employees and consultants he needed to build his new product. "We As you think about how much equity to offer, have a reasonable valuation in mind thats been determined using professional advice.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

Chris Dixon wrote a blog post about “ The one number you should know about your equity grant “ The one number you should know about your equity grant is the percent of the company you are being granted (in options, shares, whatever – it doesn’t matter – just the % matters). Percent of the outstanding option pool: meaningless.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

Seeing Both Sides

JULY 15, 2009

Entrepreneurs often mistakenly focus solely on the pre-money valuation while VCs look at multiple knobs in the negotiation to drive to a set of terms that, in total, they find acceptable. The first, and most focused on, is something called the pre-money valuation. Another term that impacts the price is the size of the option pool.

Pre-Money Valuation 49

Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Stock Options Post-Money Valuation 49

venturehacks.com

MARCH 21, 2008

Advisor compensation Whether you’re hiring a normal advisor or super advisor: Advisory shares are usually issued as common stock options. The options typically vest monthly over 1-2 years with 100% single-trigger acceleration and no cliff. Many advisors want options they can exercise immediately —that’s fine.

Advisory Board 44

Advisory Board Cap Table Vesting Equity 44

Scott Edward Walker

NOVEMBER 26, 2017

The way the investor thinks about it is that, if you can’t figure out your way to network your way to [an investor],… then you’re unlikely to be able to network your way into hiring a great team, or network your way into selling your product to customers. (at www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEOR0AJsziE. v=NEOR0AJsziE.

Term Sheet 63

Term Sheet San Francisco Founder Investment Bankers 63

venturehacks.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Offers from top-tier firms increase your valuation. In practice, you raise money or hire an employee because you need to, not because you want to. Say the equity equation tells you to pay a prospective hire above market. You should still pay the hire a market rate and save the company some equity. If no, she is a no hire.

Equity 40

Equity Cap Table Valuation RSS 40

www.startupnorth.ca

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Being an early hire at a startup gives an individual the ability to make tremendous impact on an organization as it grows – and both the founders and those hires should know it.” This should force companies to think about building value with each early hire, and not just filling a position. It’s just unfeasible.

Employee 41

Employee Founder Salary Equity 41

thestartuplawyer.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Who must be a co founder and who can remain a hired principal? When I find, and hire on options, the three perfect CEs/directors must I consider them co founders and treat them accordingly? Who must be a co founder and who can remain a hired principal? He obviously never launched a startup and got shafted by a co-founder.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Founder Preferred Stock Startup 40

www.payne.org

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

5 Stock vs Options. The re-heating of the venture funded tech market has pushed a heat up of the hiring market, and Im getting more calls from friends asking for help understanding startup stock (equity) offers. The strike price typically goes up as the company raises additional funding (at higher valuations). 3 Dilution.

Equity 56

Equity Employee Vesting Preferred Stock 56