Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

Consider it a sales & marketing expense for them. Most lawyers that work with startups are willing to work on a deferred payment schedule. They’ll only do this if they believe you’re a high potential team and are likely to raise money at some point. They want to lock in future clients at an early stage.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

The Next Web

OCTOBER 7, 2013

Cap tables sound intimidating. In one post on Ravikant’s Venture Hacks blog called, “ The Option Pool Shuffle ,” it notes market expectations are to set aside 1 to 2 percent for a VP-level hire. A reason might be that negotiation techniques are not a part of their training.

Engineer 129

Engineer Dilution Option Pool Vesting 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2016

Customer and market interaction. This element is usually called technical due diligence and typically consists of a day with your engineering and marketing team led by internal team leaders. Be prepared to present a detailed cap table, identifying by percentage all owners, investors and debtors.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Cap Table Intellectual Property 120

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

You can’t underestimate the importance of selecting an attorney who “gets” your business model, your market opportunity, and most importantly, your fundraising and exit strategy. This should be clearly spelled out in your Capitalization Table , or “Cap Table” as it’s commonly called.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

Hunter Walker

MAY 17, 2024

“Admirer from outside of the cap table” is how I approached Kieran Snyder , Cofounder of Textio. Textio brought this vision to market with our first product, designed to help people write job posts that attracted diverse and qualified candidates. Today, you’d look at Textio and say it’s an HR Tech company.

Cofounder 131

Cofounder Founder Technical Review Seattle 131

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

You’ve discovered the next big thing, and you feel you planned everything from concept to market entry. Know your industry’s standards and keep a controlled cap table. Moran Barnea earned her MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2010, specializing in Strategy and Marketing.

Technical Review 90

Technical Review Cap Table Due Diligence Non-Compete 90

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

I tell new and aspiring VCs to not believe the ‘content marketing’ version of our job. Plus, your execs, the rest of your cap table, and your board often will have to deal with this person. And to never forget it’s fundamentally sales and investment management.

Venture Capital 87

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Memphis Cap Table 87

VC Cafe

JANUARY 30, 2023

SAFE note), shareholder agreements, company formation and governance documents (e.g. articles of incorporation, bylaws, shareholder agreements), employment contracts, patents and trademarks, contracts with providers, SEC filings, licenses Business documents – client contracts, pipeline (can be redacted: i.e

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Due Diligence Cap Table Startup 79

Eric Friedman

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

I have been on both sides of the cap table of advisors. An example here is Shaq taking 1% of Ring and doing major endorsement deals and marketing. Having them on your cap table, or even in your slide deck as an advisor would bring you credibility.] These advisors are somewhere in the 1%-3% range.

Early Stage 103

Early Stage Equity Vesting Cap Table 103

VC Adventure

OCTOBER 24, 2018

Or they can be company specific topics, such as a demo of a new product that’s in development or a deep dive into marketing or sales. I prefer things like the cap table, financials and option grants to be delivered as separate attachments and not in the body of a larger board deck.

Design 91

Design Cap Table Email Operations 91

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

The value ascribed by subsequent investors (in a secondary); buyers (acquisition); or the public markets (IPO). Market share and user growth often prioritized over profitability, leading to a focus on next round optics and unicorn-sized exits in spite of failure risk. Volatile, uncapped. Flexible VC: Revenue -based. Retain 100%.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

In liquid markets, most of the calories expended on technology and analytics are focused on trade selection, or “ origination ”. I use another live Google doc to maintain my database of companies I’m marketing to other VCs. 2) Market . Many tools designed for B2B marketing in general are also relevant to investors.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

Pick something that is matched against the stage and markets you partner is investing in and just become the go-to person for the founders. Or whizbang at influencer marketing. Maybe you are just excellent at sourcing new grad engineering hires from your old school. Or running data analysis projects.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Cap Table Founder Cofounder 100

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

2) Marketing. See How Private Equity and VC Investors Are Using Social Media. We also use Carta , which specializes in cap table management and has just launched a fund administration service which we have transitioned to. See How Private Equity and Venture Capital Investors Are Eating Their Own Dogfood. .

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

2) Marketing. See How Private Equity and VC Investors Are Using Social Media. We also use Carta , which specializes in cap table management and has just launched a fund administration service which we have transitioned to. See How Private Equity and Venture Capital Investors Are Eating Their Own Dogfood. .

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

Steve Blank

APRIL 8, 2010

They collected information that justified their assumptions about the problem, opportunity, market size, their solution and competitors and the their team, They rolled up a 5-year sales forecast with assumptions about their revenue model, pricing, sales, marketing, customer acquisition cost, etc. It was an exquisitely crafted plan.

Business Model 332

Business Model Business Plan Customer Cap Table 332

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

While they might be generally smart, they’re unsophisticated investors who don’t know what the market is for where you are. They try to sign simple, market-standard deals, keeping the bells and whistles to a minimum while focusing on just a few critical deal points that are most likely to move the needle on their returns.

.Net 88

.Net Cap Table Startup Technical Review 88

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 23, 2023

I can vouch for his genuine optimism Hunter Walk: You got to work with a number of different VCs on your cap table for Anchor. And it now seems the podcast startup market has peaked, with a very uncertain future moving forward. Who was the best one and why was it Homebrew?

Founder 115

Founder Angel Investor Cap Table Distribution 115

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

I have come to realize that since the great tech boom started in 2009 and given the massive increase in first-time angels, first-time seed funds, first-time accelerators … there market is just filled with well-intentioned terrible advice. It is less about actual money and more about structure of your Cap Table.

Cap Table 399

Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Finance 399

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

Once again, as we find ourselves in the middle of a significant public market correction, especially around technology stocks, there’s an enormous amount of noise in the system, as there always is. Deal with reality as a founder as well as an investor group and avoid this complexity – just clean up your cap table instead.

Cap Table 70

Cap Table Down Round Liquidation Preference Founder 70

techcrunch.com

APRIL 26, 2013

That way, startups only have one entity in the cap table, which simplifies documentation and structure. And what AngelList is doing differs from the crowdfunding market, with the criteria for startup participation and the requirement to be an accredited investor.

SEC 61

SEC Accredited Investor San Diego New York City 61

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Examples of housekeeping include the following list, though not every item will appear every time: Finance: Cash out date, burn rate, 409A valuation, cap table, common/preferred stock dashboard. Even if there’s some kind of product in the market during the first round of financing, it’s probably to be unproven.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

Hunter Walker

OCTOBER 31, 2021

Fund people/ideas ahead of consensus — that is, find founders and markets that aren’t currently being chased by the mainstream and get to conviction ahead of the pack. If you can be more valuable than that, I’d love to bring you on to the cap table of the next seed round we lead. Close the fun and get to work.

Cap Table 150

Cap Table Cofounder Early Stage Portfolio 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 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 284

Angel Investor Early Stage Cap Table Deal Flow 284

keen.io

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

And if the CEO says, “Salaries will be adjusted to market value soon,” that’s probably a best-case scenario. This time, I was looking more closely at Keen’s cap table and various financial events, like raising Series A, becoming profitable, and company acquisition. So I knew a little bit. What is the difference between.5%

Salary 50

Salary Equity Startup San Francisco 50

Gust

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

Parts of the answer are that (a) there are enormous regulatory requirements relating to secondary markets, and (b) there are no analysts tracking private company stocks.

Seed Stage 131

Seed Stage Hockey Stick Cap Table Liquidation Preference 131

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Are they consistent with your founding team, are they competitive in the market, and will they not create precedents that you’ll regret in the next round of hiring? Your Cap Table is something that deserves constant care and attention. Messy cap tables can come back to haunt you when you do a financing or sell the company.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 3, 2019

We thought the market was very noisy and had seen many spin-outs fail (the transition from service to product company is not always easy). Carta went on to become the standard for cap table management and is a unicorn many times over. . Bad mistake…Casper is now the clear market leader in this industry and valued at over $1B.

Portfolio 201

Portfolio Cap Table Early Stage Valuation 201

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

While VC deals remain marketed on a pre-money basis, sophisticated investors know that what matters most is the post-money (how much of the company will I own after all of the new shares have been issued). The most serious unintended consequence occurs from “note waterfalls”— converting multiple notes that have multiple valuation caps.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

VC Adventure

AUGUST 15, 2018

As is true today, there was a requirement that options be priced at or above the “fair market value” of the underlying stock (otherwise there would be tax consequences to the optionee and sometimes to the company as well).

Valuation 48

Valuation Common Stock Cap Table Software Review 48

www.informationarbitrage.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Read more » Recent Press The New York Times April 22, 2009 - A Company Plans to Market Illiquid Assets CNBC.com April 8, 2008 - Social Stock Picking Reuters April 6, 2009 - Bit.ly I don't want to see any more of you with crappy business guys ruining your great ideas, ok?

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Founder Cap Table Vesting 40

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

And finally, a more robust (but still somewhat opaque) secondary market emerged for transacting equity among parties. You don’t bring investors on to the cap table via a secondary transaction that are going to be problematic. As we’re recently reminded, markets go down, not just up. Pigs get fat but hogs get slaughtered.

Venture Capital 151

Venture Capital Cap Table LP Equity 151

Genuine VC

MAY 20, 2013

VCs who swear publicly that they’ll never make an investment with less than 20% ownership show up on cap tables in the teens… the 20% pronouncements are just posturing for negotiation. At the early stages, the primary investment thesis rests on the team, rather than the idea or market (which are less unique and more easily fungible).

Venture Capital 244

Venture Capital Cap Table Portfolio Early Stage 244

View from Seed

MAY 29, 2019

Today, we are seeing less syndication of seed rounds and sharper elbows among many of the funds in the market. This segment of the market is basically mirroring other segments of the venture ecosystem which has operated this way for some time. Similarly, the seed market is beginning to look like this too.

Syndicate 267

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Cap Table 267

Haystack

SEPTEMBER 16, 2018

And when it comes to fundraising advice, the investment market itself offers the best advice. This is made worse by our own human impulses to seek out sources who will say what we want to hear. Ultimately, 99% of those sources are noise.

Cap Table 110

Cap Table Marketing Early Stage Founder 110

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

I have come to realize that since the great tech boom started in 2009 and given the massive increase in first-time angels, first-time seed funds, first-time accelerators … the market is just filled with well-intentioned, but inexperience advice. It is less about actual money and more about structure of your Cap Table.

Cap Table 136

Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Non-Compete 136

The Next Web

OCTOBER 21, 2013

In these cases, the equation is basically unsolvable and doing a round with a venture investor risks entangling the founders in endless meetings and conference calls with their angel backers to find a compromise that will allow them essentially to rewrite their cap table.

Cap Table 128

Cap Table Option Pool Angel Investor Entrepreneur 128