Austin Startup

JANUARY 25, 2020

I thought of a name and settled on Kilimanjaro, after the highest mountain in Africa. “At a minimum, I should be able to use this myself,” I thought. The screens were coming together and the color scheme I was using (using the primary African colors of Yellow, Green, and Red) was not bad.

Delaware 62

Delaware SEC New York City New York 62

ithacaVC

DECEMBER 13, 2013

They are typically pretty simple: (i) shares owned by founders and (ii) shares authorized for issuance in a stock option pool, some of which may be issued to employees already and some of which will be available for future issuance. QUESTION #1: This leads to our cap table clean up question #1, namely is that the right allocation?

Cap Table 67

Cap Table Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Liquidation Preference 67

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Naming a Business. If youre offering the consultant stock options, youll also want to take into consideration what the exercise price is going to be and how long the options will be outstanding. Create an options pool, if nothing more than in your mind, so you have some parameters to work within," Durkin says.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

A big-name VC firm will not screwyou too outrageously, because other founders would avoid them ifword got out. When we got into such a scrape, our investorstook advantage of it in a way that a name-brand VC probably wouldnthave. Thats where the name"incubator" comes from. What is an incubator? Im not sure myself.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

The Startup Lawyer

FEBRUARY 4, 2011

Other incubators may want to set up an option pool. If so, the startup’s founders need to know this option pool lowers your pre-money valuation. Take a look at pictures and videos from previous demo days, if any, and see if they’ll help get your startup’s name out there.

Incubator 105

Incubator Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Advisory Board 105

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Pro Publica has a Nonprofit Explorer database searchable by principal name on all nonprofit filings, so you can see a person’s nonprofit activities. . The Long Term Stock Exchange is building out a set of tools for founders for managing their cap tables, 409A valuations, cash on hand, options pool, investor relations, etc.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

The Next Web

AUGUST 14, 2013

If you aren’t sure about the traction that you do have, that can lead to being timid about pitching big name investors who have backed the likes of Facebook or Google. How could you possibly be confident in pitching an investor who has had epic payouts from the biggest names in tech? Almost all of that was foreign to me.

Founder 142

Founder Incubator Cofounder Accredited Investor 142

www.mattbartus.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

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. Option Pool. 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.

Warrant 40

Warrant Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 40

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Idont know which name will stick. 5 ]In a series A round, you usually have to give up more thanthe actual amount of stock the VCs buy, because they insist youdilute yourselves to set aside an "option pool" as well. Unless theressome huge market crash, the next couple years are going to be agood time for startups to raise money.

Valuation 92

Valuation Stock Partner Founder 92

www.payne.org

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

The preferred stock held by investors has (as the name implies) more rights and privileges than the common stock issued to employees. Companies allocate a pool of stock (usually called the Incentive Stock Option pool, or ISO pool) to grant to employees.

Equity 56

Equity Employee Vesting Preferred Stock 56

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

When you consider that they’ll also want a 15-20% option pool in the company you’re talking about founders owning as little as 40% after just one round. There are ones I’ve worked with like True Ventures, First Round Capital, Greycroft, Rincon Ventures … just to name a few.

Dilution 314

Dilution Cap Table Due Diligence Option Pool 314

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

And entrepreneurs are working hard to make sure they have as many VC names and famous angels on their cap table for signaling value. VCs are paying up at enormous prices to say that they have GroupOn, Facebook and Twitter on their roster irrespective of whether they really venture funded them or bought in late stage.

Strategic Investors 312

Strategic Investors Los Angeles Cap Table Startup 312