Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

Andrew Krowne and I recently co-wrote an article in Tech Crunch , Why SAFE Notes Are Not Safe for Entrepreneurs. The most serious unintended consequence occurs from “note waterfalls”— converting multiple notes that have multiple valuation caps. Many entrepreneurs lose track of what they have been cooking up in the cap table.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 11, 2019

She’s also a founding member of All Raise, a non-profit committed to improving diversity in both funders and founders. What I was interested in seeing was that a lot of these founders believe that they’re not just creating technology, they're creating change and culture. Let’s move to Floodgate now.

Founder 68

Founder Lean Venture Capital Cofounder 68

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

We make a point of keeping our records updated in the major data-trackers tracking the VC industry, e.g., CB Insights , Crunchbase , Dow Jones , Mattermark , Palico , Preqin , Pitchbook , and ThomsonReuters , since they are a source of data to LPs and to potential co-investors interested in us. . Pitchbot.vc 3) Originate investments.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

View from Seed

OCTOBER 11, 2022

At the seed stage and as companies scale, helping the founders I work with identify and reach their goals, personally and professionally, gives me energy and purpose. Together, we’ve co-invested and competed, commiserated and celebrated.

North America 156

North America San Francisco Cap Table Cofounder 156

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Here the focus is on Pink Stuff, a British cleaning paste, which was #CleanTok mainstreamed to a quadrupling of revenue ($125m annually) and distribution to 55 countries. As Jared notes, To hedge against this predictable outcome, more founders should adopt longer vesting cycles for themselves and the earliest (big equity) employees.

Founder Vesting 85

Founder Vesting Vesting Cap Table Founder 85

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2019

Most founders who are raising capital look first to traditional equity VCs. Or should they look to one of the new wave of Revenue-Based Investors? Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) is a new form of VC financing, distinct from the preferred equity structure most VCs use. Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs?

Revenue 60

Revenue Liquidation Preference Equity Cofounder 60

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 21, 2017

Nothing seems to apply--you're not a tech company, you bootstrapped your way to millions in revenues before taking on capital, and you sell mostly through brick and mortar. Technically, that's what we called it, but it didn't seem entirely appropriate given that it had already been up and running for years and had millions in revenue.

Cap Table 92

Cap Table Cofounder Valuation .Net 92

Spencer Fry

APRIL 17, 2017

If this is the case, you may find yourself starting all over with little revenue (if any), a 1-2 person team that might be consulting on the side to pay bills, and no marketing spend. As a bootstrapped startup, the only accountability you have is to yourself and to your co-founder if you have one. Having great accountability.

Bootstrapping 63

Bootstrapping Cap Table Liquidation Preference Cofounder 63

blog.simeonov.com

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Simeon, can you tell us how you structure ownership and control so you can fire your co-founders if necessary? The first part will dispel some myths, address the lifecycle of founder agreements and the key compensation and control parameters in them. Let’s start by dispelling some myths: There is a standard founder agreement.

Founder 44

Founder Vesting Agile Startup 44

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Should you co-found your company with a software development shop? I’ve talked with a number of software development shops who are eager to get into the business of cofounding companies, i.e., getting product revenue and equity instead of just consulting revenue. What are the terms of their relationship with the founder?

Software Development 60

Software Development Software Developers Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

abovethecrowd.com

JUNE 2, 2021

This “gain” ($34B last year alone) is a result of a direct wealth-transfer to these individuals FROM the previous owners of the company — founders, executives, employees, and venture investors. Is it disrespectful to imply that the founders, executives, VC-backers, and the boards of these companies are gullible or naive?

IPO 82

IPO Customer Matching Silicon Valley 82

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2020

I've known Brian Chesky, Co-Founder, CEO and Head of Community at Airbnb for a long time. A complete collapse of revenue that simultaneously affects your employees and your customers, your partners, your investors, everyone all at once and all the news is bad. He was the founder of Ebay. So then what? I hope you will.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Hosting Cofounder Employee 60

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 13, 2024

Fast forward a few years and we finally connect via mutual friends and Twitter threads, but Proof is Too Successful for our early stage capital, meaning I admire from afar versus from the cap table. PK: Yes, I’ve made every mistake as a founder. An executive now at a big co. I said “mostly.”

Hiring 96

Hiring Cap Table Cofounder Early Stage 96

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

Plus, it bothers me that it gives the impression that, if you’re a female founder and you become the face of your company, you’ll inevitably get taken down—that anything short of unimpeachable success means becoming a target and getting kicked to the curb in a spectacularly disastrous fashion. I don’t think that’s happening this time.

Cofounder 131

Cofounder Venture Capital Community PR 131

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 14, 2024

She is a CEO and Co-founder of Benefit Bay, a Kansas City based company innovating the employee health benefits industry through individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements. So it is complex, but really what it means is we're going to be able to access our benefit dollars and make the choice that's right for our family.

Kansas City 77

Kansas City Employee Kansas Part-Time VPE 77

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

(co-written with Stephane Nasser , co-founder of OpenVC , an open-source initiative to collect and analyze all VC theses.). OpenVC is a new, open-source initiative to collect and analyze all publicly available VC theses, to help founders more efficiently find the right investors, and vice-versa. Technical founders .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78