The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 9, 2022

As part of our Founder interview series , The Startup Magazine caught up with Salo Sterental, Co-Founder of the SoStereo, a marketing firm that enables brands and artists alike to unlock the marketing power of music. Salo: Zumba Fitness approached Beto (my co-founder) and I with a unique problem.

Cofounder 158

Cofounder Founder Miami Marketing 158

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

Nowhere is the politics more difficult than with co-founders, which is why for years I’ve spoken publicly about “ the co-founder mythology.” ” Of course we all go into businesses expecting to be aligned with our co-founders but over time life changes. Equity for the future?

Founder 340

Founder Cofounder Sacramento Technical Review 340

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

George Deeb is the Managing Partner at Chicago-based Red Rocket Ventures , a startup consulting and financial advisory firm based in Chicago. If people are funding the business, they should get a premium because at the end of the day, cash funding founders are acting no different than a seed stage investor. Whose idea was it?

Cofounder 136

Cofounder Equity Founder Seed Stage 136

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

years ago and told me, “I just got offered the chance to buy this company because the founder doesn’t want to continue. How much dilution should I take for it?&# My friend’s company was pre-revenue. Me: “Zero dilution. My recommendation to our lead partner looking at the deal, “Pass.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Each co-founder should get equity for value, based on these key variables: Lived a key role in a previous startup.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Agile VC

JULY 11, 2012

Some disgruntled younger partners left to go start a new firm in 1965 called Greylock. Some disgruntled younger partners left in the 90s to form what is now Redpoint Ventures (IT team) and Versant Ventures (healthcare team). Big success was Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), in which ARD invested about $2.1M

Silicon Valley 240

Silicon Valley Carried Interest Cofounder Boston 240

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2011

I covered what I call “the co-founder mythology.&# Either you’re not technical and you think you need a technical co-founder or vice-versa. Conventional wisdom says that you gain far more in working as a team than you lose by diluted by half before you start. Hire your co-founder.

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Cofounder Founder Vesting Founder Vesting 393

The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Andrew is the co-founder and CTO of Parse.ly , a technology startup that provides big data insights to the web’s best publishers. He wrote: When startups die, the official cause of death is always either running out of money or a critical founder bailing. Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Andrew Montalenti.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

We were trying to optimize around a few criteria: price, size of round, number of syndicate partners and, of course, terms. But we weren’t optimizing for dilution – we were building a $1 billion+ company and we wanted the runway to succeed. You need your key negotiating partner and both sets of lawyers. Yes, this was stupid.

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Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

I read commentary or Twitter or blogs and realize that there are also strongly held convictions that there are these evil VCs who do terrible things to mostly altruistic founders. Executives run the day-to-day so often the board is more involved as a sparring partner at key intervals. That’s true.

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Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217

blog.nahurst.com

JULY 19, 2010

The graphic below balances the risks cofounders take with their relative contributions to help answer this question. This covers one of the most common situations I encounter: For a pre-funding web startup whose team includes only a non-technical cofounder, how much equity should an incoming technical cofounder get?

Technical Cofounder 43

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Equity Salary 43

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

How to Divide Equity to Startup Founders, Advisors, and Employees. The part that I’d like to zero in on is when you’ve got a high growth company what are some of the best practices out there to distribute equity to the founders, advisors, and employees? Equity for Founders. Should founders have anti-dilution rights?

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 5, 2010

I have personally sold many copies of his book, and continue to recommend it as one of the most important books a startup founder can read. Brant and Patrick undertook a difficult challenge: to provide a generally accessible introduction to Customer Development, without diluting its impact or dumbing-down its principles.

Customer Development 166

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 166

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

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 Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

What is it, and how should founders think about it? note: We’d like to be extra clear that founders should not take on venture debt if they don’t have 100% visibility into repaying the loan, as banks that need to recoup their loan my force the company or you as the guarantor into liquidation or bankruptcy.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 16, 2016

By Bryan Miles, CEO and co-founder, Miles Advisory Group, Inc. We witness so many of the subtle gains of our labor – ideas made real, people turned passionate partners and the prospects of inching ever-closer to a long-term future rather than the great likelihood of total business failure.

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Cofounder Balance Sheet Small Business Administration Technical Review 100

David Teten

DECEMBER 2, 2019

Now the bad news: some venture capitallists have a bias against startups with an explicit positive social impact, on the grounds that they have a smaller addressable market, and that the founders are not sufficiently focused on creating shareholder wealth. If you think I’ve missed any, please contact me. J.M.Kaplan Innovation Prize. “The

Technical Review 60

Technical Review SBIR Dilution Silicon Valley 60

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

This past week while I was in Tokyo for meetings with potential partners for Fab, I was invited to participate in a panel discussion on startups. million registered users, 7500 supplier partners, 600 team members, and a run-rate of more than $150M in sales in just 15 months. Founders need to personally own something big themselves.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2021

It’s disconcerting for most to realize that these shares are initially worth nothing, and the challenge is to get that value up as quickly as possible, without losing it just as quickly to investors, lazy partners, and taxation. Key founder vesting should have no cliff. This is called stock dilution control.

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Vesting Dilution Stock Founder Vesting 298

The Next Web

AUGUST 19, 2013

He is the co-­founder and CEO of Quote Roller and PandaDoc. It’s always better to be earn money, not just raise it, as money you earn doesn’t dilute your ownership and reassures your investors. It’s always better to be earn money, not just raise it, as money you earn doesn’t dilute your ownership and reassures your investors.

Belarus 137

Belarus Viral Channel Startup 137

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Bigfoot Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 1, 2009

I was reading one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs, VentureHacks, this weekend and noticed that they are running a long piece on how to pick a co-founder. Once it’s set up I recommend bringing in a co-founder and giving them 10-30% of the company depending upon when you bring them in. You’ll be fine.

Hiring 289

Hiring Cofounder Dilution Startup 289

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Should you start a company solo or find co-founders to help you? The downside is loss of control and financial dilution.

Founder 325

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 7, 2022

Marcel is the CEO & Co-Founder of Parakeeto, a company dedicated to helping agencies measure and improve their profitability by streamlining their operations and reporting systems. 20:05] Why wouldn’t you use a resource plan with your white label partners to some degree? [20:52] Marketing Podcast with Marcel Petitpas.

Cofounder 94

Cofounder Hosting Networking Software Review 94

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR – disclaimer, I represent the Founders Institute and was involved in drafting this document). If new investors get better rights in a future equity financings (such as registration rights, price-based anti-dilution, redemption rights, etc.), Anti-dilution protection.

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup Founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Should you start a company solo or find co-Founders to help you? The downside is loss of control and financial dilution.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

Very cool concept and I want to thank the founder Adil Mohammed for inviting me to take part in it. I’ve learned this first hand from Mark Gerson, the founder of Gerson Lehrman Group. As the founder, you’re the number one sales person of the company and it is not a function you can outsource right away.

Elevator Pitch 102

Elevator Pitch Incubator Technical Review Startup 102

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

It’s disconcerting for most to realize that these shares are initially worth nothing, and the challenge is to get that value up as quickly as possible, without losing it just as quickly to investors, lazy partners, and taxation. Key founder vesting should have no cliff. This is called stock dilution control.

Stock 240

Stock .Net Vesting Founder Vesting 240

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Co-founder discontent. Reference checking is to confirm or disprove a strong, positive intuition you already have about founders that could lead to an investment or a pass. What would this founder do if he got an offer to be acquihired quickly by Facebook? Co-investors are critical. Health destroying stress.

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Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2020

The simple solution I recommend to inventors is to find a partner who can focus on business and marketing, while you focus on technology. In fact, they may fear team leadership as a burden, or a potential dilution of their ownership. Two people with complementary skills are often equal to three.

Founder 312

Founder Intellectual Property Dilution Startup 312

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2013

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup Founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Should you start a company solo or find co-Founders to help you? The downside is loss of control and financial dilution.

Founder 245

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 245

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Should you start a company solo or find co-founders to help you? The downside is loss of control and financial dilution.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

Here’s the problem: Let’s say you have 5 VCs (plus angels but let’s ignore that for now) and each one owns 5% so you took 25% dilution to get the round done. Let’s say each of those 5 partners has at least 7 other investments each. The most common case is that the partner who did the deal left the firm.

Dilution 314

Dilution Cap Table Due Diligence Option Pool 314

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2019

The challenge we all have as business founders is to move from the idea stage to a real business. Do the same for partners and co-founders that will buttress your strengths. Dilution of focus kills too many small businesses, as they try to attract more customers and counter more competitors.

Intellectual Property 248

Intellectual Property Cofounder Dilution Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

I know that some founders feel uncomfortable with this as though they might somehow be sharing something so confidential that it ultimately hurts you. If a VC prices a flat or down round it means that management teams are often taking too much dilution. Why shouldn’t most founders just name a price? After all?—?we

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Valuation Post-Money Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder 324