Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

So for the most part a venture investor holds their equity until the company exits via an acquisition, IPO, or some sort of other liquidity event (management buyout, whatever). You don’t bring investors on to the cap table via a secondary transaction that are going to be problematic. Pigs get fat but hogs get slaughtered.

Venture Capital 154

Venture Capital Cap Table LP Equity 154

adamac.blogspot.com

MARCH 9, 2010

Adam MacBeth Tuesday, April 07, 2009 10 Startup Red Flags Ive worked on a number of startups: from seed-stage through IPO, as a founder, employee, advisor, and consultant, as well as evaluating a bunch from the outside, so Ive seen my share of screw-ups. Adamac Attack! Either way, its a sign that something is amiss.

Technical Review 41

Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup 41

Hunter Walker

JULY 18, 2021

All in all it worked out fine, driven primary by some fortunate acquisitions to companies like Microsoft, Pinterest and Facebook, the latter two in pre-IPO equity which grew substantially prior to their public listings. I never really tracked IRR or net returns, but I did pay close attention to ‘lessons learned.’ Ok, now that half-mistake….

Cap Table 154

Cap Table IRR Angel Investor IPO 154

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 1, 2021

I never heard about giraffes after Google’s IPO, although reportedly one early engineer did buy a carnival-size ferris wheel. Those of us who’ve had access to the right hiring manager, or cap table, or referral network have already put ourselves in a position to capitalize, but the pie can be expanded.

Silicon Valley 127

Silicon Valley Cap Table IPO .Net 127

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

Let the Syndicate handle filtering for membership – it would almost feel more like an investment club – but they would see themselves as value add angels, without the company needing to add them all individually to the cap table or hold 20 separate pitch meetings. 3) The Alternate Liquidity Syndicate.

Syndicate 121

Syndicate Syndication South America Cap Table 121

View from Seed

OCTOBER 11, 2022

And I’ve been fortunate enough to witness their startups scale from ideas to $1B+ businesses (and even an IPO in the case of Poshmark). 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.

North America 156

North America San Francisco Cap Table Cofounder 156

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 13, 2019

I have a portfolio where 50% of the investments have founders that come from diverse backgrounds—and yes, I want them to get money from all of the still-active funds on Uber’s cap table that benefitted from the IPO.

Cap Table 121

Cap Table Portfolio IPO Reputation 121

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

But knowing the right people and knowing a market only works well for angel investors in bullish tech markets in which IPO’s happen quickly (97-99) or where larger companies are actively scooping up little tiny companies at sub $50 million valuations to drive innovation (05-08, 10-?). Obviously I agree. So where are we now?

Angel Investor 152

Angel Investor Cap Table Early Stage Deal Flow 152

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

It’s essentially a private IPO where early investors, founders and employees get some liquidity and Softbank gets minority ownership, maybe a Board seat. Yippee, go Masayoshi Son!!! Cool, cool.

Cap Table 109

Cap Table IRR IPO Early Stage 109

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 26, 2022

Hunter Walk: Ok, so we first met when you were leading comms at enterprise software company Box, a startup you joined when they were still pretty early and stayed at until post-IPO. HW: Anyone who’s been through an IPO, I always like to ask about the experience because it’s such a classic, if statistically rare, startup milestone.

IPO 123

IPO Cofounder Early Stage San Francisco 123

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

Equity crowdfunding is likely to work more effectively for startups that require single rounds of thousands and plan to operate as a growing concern, rather than those requiring multiple rounds of millions in startup capital with goals of being acquired or going public via IPO. Timeframes are defined and short.

Equity 100

Equity United Kingdom Cap Table Oklahoma 100

BeyondVC

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

We each independently fell in love with enterprise software 20+ years ago as seed investors (cos like gotomeeting/Citrix, greenplum/EMC, livperson/IPO LPSN) and founders (workmarket, onforce/Adecco, spinback/buddymedia/salesf0rce) and are now benefiting from the ecosystems, knowledge and network that weve collectively developed.

Cap Table 78

Cap Table Cofounder Dividend Institutional Investors 78

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

The return only happens when there is an exit via acquisition or an IPO. It gives in depth examples & templates explaining documents like Term Sheet, Cap Table, Convertible Securities plus the importance of 83(b) filing. Raising Angel Capital. Links to Download Arushi’s eBook.

Finance 93

Finance Accredited Investor Angel Investor Seed Capital 93

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Cheap, mobile, social, global, massive, always-on, one-click-purchase has led to the most successful companies of our era hitting unprecedented scale early in their development and has massively shifted the value captured from post-IPO investors to pre-IPO investors as is demonstrated in the chart above.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

BeyondVC

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

We each independently fell in love with enterprise software 20+ years ago as seed investors (cos like gotomeeting/Citrix, greenplum/EMC, livperson/IPO LPSN) and founders (workmarket, onforce/Adecco, spinback/buddymedia/salesf0rce) and are now benefiting from the ecosystems, knowledge and network that we’ve collectively developed.

Cap Table 60

Cap Table Cofounder Dividend Institutional Investors 60

ithacaVC

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

It is highly typical for a startup to have small investors on its cap table. Founders often raise money from friends and family and other angels. That is all well and good… and 100% normal. Without friends and family and angels there would not be many companies for VCs to look at!

Preemptive Right 45

Preemptive Right Cap Table Valuation Dilution 45

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Until you IPO, feeling like you’re good may just depend on what part of the fundraising cycle you’re taking a snapshot of your companies in. That’s how it feels when your hot deal from two years ago winds up running low on cash and gets into a pay-to-play round that wipes out the cap table. But I thought I was good!?”

Non-Compete 97

Non-Compete Cofounder Cap Table Reputation 97

www.payne.org

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

In addition, IPOs are a special scenario, where the preference usually goes away and all stock classes are in equal footing). Keep in mind: when a company is figuring out how much stock to offer you, theyre usually doing it relative to ownership for other employees, and theyre doing it within some budget (the cap table).

Equity 56

Equity Employee Vesting Preferred Stock 56

abovethecrowd.com

JUNE 2, 2021

On March 26, SoFi announced that “it will be offering its members (at least those with $3K in their account) the ability to invest in IPOs for companies going public, an investment opportunity that has traditionally been reserved for large institutional investors or ultra-high-net-worth individuals.”

IPO 82

IPO Customer Matching Silicon Valley 82

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 21, 2023

In other words, you’re one of dozens, perhaps 100’s of companies getting the same exact e-mail where the VC says they’re really excited about what you’re doing and they work with such and such partner and the firm has done such and such IPOs, etc. But back to the cap table. and they take a hefty chunk of the cap table to do it.

Cap Table 78

Cap Table Term Sheet Database Option Pool 78

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

In an IPO, it might not merely addexpense, but change the outcome. Those remedial actions can delay, stall or even kill the IPO. Of course the odds of any given startup doing an IPO are small.But not as small as they might seem. Once you take money from the generalpublic youre more restricted in what you can do. [

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

The pressures of lofty paper valuations, massive burn rates (and the subsequent need for more cash), and unprecedented low levels of IPOs and M&A, have created a complex and unique circumstance which many Unicorn CEOs and investors are ill-prepared to navigate. In Q1 of 2016 there were zero VC-backed technology IPOs.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Altgate

JUNE 25, 2012

Facebook’s IPO minted many millionaires and even billionaires. Instead, the dead equity languishes on the cap table, weighing down the startup and making it harder to attract and motivate the people who could impact its growth. Facebook’s situation is far from unique, even among recent tech IPOs.

Equity 44

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 44

Hunter Walker

MAY 13, 2023

Sometimes you’d even get lucky and receive stock in the acquirer, which was how I gained pre-IPO equity in high growth stars like Pinterest and Facebook. Cash is at a premium so it’s not going to cap tables (preferred or common walk away from the deals with no dinero). of the time my answer is no f **g way].

Early Stage 134

Early Stage Cap Table Acquisition Sales 134

Haystack

DECEMBER 28, 2019

Despite this opportunity, WeWork seemed to attract private investment which valued the business in highly questionable ways; didn’t exert strong enough board oversight; and enabled a founder who clearly exhibited exorbitant tendencies, lighting investment cash on fire for far-flung plans or personal comfort.

China 146

China Startup Lock-up Period Cap Table 146

Altgate

AUGUST 25, 2012

Facebook’s IPO minted many millionaires and even billionaires. Instead, the dead equity languishes on the cap table, weighing down the startup and making it harder to attract and motivate the people who could impact its growth. Facebook’s situation is far from unique, even among recent tech IPOs.

Equity 28

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 28

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2020

This was supposed to be Airbnb's biggest year by many measures, including its IPO, which was one of the most anticipated since the 2008 financial crisis. And so the oven is like being an IPO. And the good thing is, was it included people that were already in our cap table. But it's like taking. You're baking.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Hosting Cofounder Employee 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 4, 2021

It was one of the year's most successful IPOs so far, and has been heralded as a "landmark moment" for cryptocurrency's entrance into mainstream investing. Just before the IPO, I had a far-reaching conversation with co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong as he approached this major milestone for the company he co-founded back in 2012.

IPO 113

IPO Cofounder Technical Review Government 113

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 10, 2021

Roblox will have a very nice IPO one day if it doesn’t have a big hate speech problem on its platform. These people want to make the technology ecosystem the wild west where anyone that doesn’t have privilege and power just gets run over and I fully believe their views are going to make them less desirable to have on cap tables.

Venture Capital 151

Venture Capital Cap Table Accredited Investor Silicon Valley 151

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 10, 2024

Here’s why: It used to be that all venture investors had largely the same goals and incentives, up until maybe the growth round pre-IPO. Now there are many more folks on startup cap tables with access to incremental capital to purchase slugs of stock, plus many fund LPs are looking for direct investment access.

Cap Table 132

Cap Table Dilution Valuation .Net 132

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 1, 2017

What we see is that more and more female founders want women on their cap table: A couple of founders have re-opened rounds for us; one even got a major investor to sell us secondary. Are IPOs and long-term thinking incompatible? Look at Amazon—Bezos still plays the long game 20 years after the IPO. Do you agree?

IPO 91

IPO Cap Table NDA Vietnam 91