Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy. Equity investments are not loans, so there is no loan payback period or interest payments. Equity investments are not loans, so there is no loan payback period or interest payments. Find a private equity firm or friendly individual.

Exit Strategy 264

Exit Strategy Private Equity Equity Technical Review 264

Eric Friedman

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

I have been thinking about early stage equity and advisor grants for some time, including a post in 2016 , that I rely on and wanted to revisit. I have had a few founder friends reach out to me asking about how much equity to give to an advisor, and had some operators reach out asking how to become an advisor for an early stage founder.

Early Stage 103

Early Stage Equity Vesting Cap Table 103

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2016

I’ve often asked myself why intrapreneurs like Don Estridge and peers from CDC, Burroughs, UNIVAC, and Wang are not household names today. The burn rate was extremely high, with no one working for equity or deferred compensation. Required pivots and budged changes are painfully slow and over-analyzed.

Technical Review 214

Technical Review Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Burn Rate 214

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

Speed is the name of the game : over 77% of pre-seed investments were done in the course of 2-3 weeks to a month The YC Effect? In contrast, 80% of seed rounds are equity-based. Equity-based deals accounted for 80% of seed deals. deals per fund, with an average check size of $840,000. This has now become the norm for pre-seed.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Israel Early Stage Vertical 88

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

Equity for the future? If you are the person staying how resentful will you become working your arse off for equity that your co-founder who leaves will get value from. What should the financial settlement be for the founder leaves be? What mechanisms exist for mediating if you can’t come to a consensus on these issues?

Founder 340

Founder Cofounder Sacramento Technical Review 340

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names. Investors like to see that you have committed personal funds as well as “sweat equity,” and they like to see real progress at this level. Without revenue, your investors are largely limited to friends, family and fools. Show personal investment.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity Fractional CTO 281

View from Seed

JANUARY 27, 2021

Today, we have invested in over 100 high-growth companies, some of which have grown to be household names with thousands of employees making a huge impact in the everyday lives of everyday people. . From the beginnings of NextView, we have had a commitment to being high-conviction, hands-on, seed stage focused investors. A Final Note.

Operations 227

Operations Hiring Seed Stage Boston 227

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names. Investors like to see that you have committed personal funds as well as “sweat equity,” and they like to see real progress at this level. Without revenue, your investors are largely limited to friends, family and fools. Show personal investment.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity Fractional CTO CTO Hire 260

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

The corporate entity lends itself best to the concept of “sharing” equity required by investors, and unincorporated entities don’t get funding. Get your Internet domain name and website. Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it. Line up an experienced team.

Intellectual Property 249

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 249

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names. Investors like to see that you have committed personal funds as well as “sweat equity,” and they like to see real progress at this level. Without revenue, your investors are largely limited to friends, family and fools. Show personal investment.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity Fractional CTO CTO Hire 253

Up and Running

JULY 22, 2014

This is a financial statement that goes by a few different names—profit and loss statement, income statement, pro forma income statement, P&L (short for “profit and loss”)—but no matter what you call it, it’s an essential report and very important to understand. And you’d probably want some liquidity ratios, such as: debt-to-equity.

Balance Sheet 148

Balance Sheet Forecast Equity .Net 148

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

I’ve recently advised a number of emerging private equity and VC funds who are wrestling with the question: What are the highest impact steps they can take to support their portfolio companies? . Almost every private equity and venture capital investor now advertises that they have a platform to support their portfolio companies.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

David Teten

JANUARY 23, 2021

For ideas, see How Executives Can Work from Home with Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds. That said, if there are names in their network that are on your target list or can expand your network take them up on their offer. Similarly to asking your service providers, ask LPs if they have a name or two that you should be talking to.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

Imagine my lack of excitement if that section is missing, or it’s basically a list of names and titles that I don’t recognize. Investors all know that the startup road is long and hard, so they look for people who have put and will continue to put “skin in the game” -- time, sweat equity, and money. Able to communicate on every level.

Sweat Equity 152

Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Startup 152

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 4, 2019

Balancing Assets, Liabilities, and Owner’s Equity. In fact, when creating an (appropriately named) balance sheet, if the two columns on the sheet are ever unbalanced, this should be the first indicator that something has gone wrong. Liabilities indicate what your company currently owes (accounts payable, interest, other debts, etc.).

Balance Sheet 172

Balance Sheet Software Review Equity Cofounder 172

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

I show charts on housing, structural unemployment, home equity re-financings that we spent meaning less spending power post crash, new housing sales, debt-to-income ratios, public-sector job problems that will cause crises in cities and states across the US. I can’t say his name yet because he hasn’t announced funding.

Stock 305

Stock Technical Review Marketing Greece 305

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 10, 2013

American business magazine Forbes has announced its list of “ The Best Small Companies in America “ for 2013, with Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc topping the rankings of 100 small businesses based on earnings growth, sales growth and return on equity in the past 12 months and over five years.

America 154

America United States Technical Review Boston 154

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 25, 2017

Traditionally, VC investors would invest $X million in a startup for a certain percentage of equity, decision making rights, and the power to block things they didn’t agree with. VC investors were once billed as the mavericks, the risk takers that no one else would follow in pumping money into unknown businesses and industries.

Venture Capital 193

Venture Capital Technical Review Kenya Startup 193

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 26, 2023

“When we started our company, we had an equity partner that was going to be our money. The equity partner] ended up going bankrupt. “We We went and just talked to anybody we could about getting equity for ground-up real estate projects, but it was the middle of the great financial crisis.

Cofounder 148

Cofounder Developer United States Founder 148

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Consumers responded to name and concept well, solves real problem, o Took 4 months to build initial prototype. If you need money to even hire a developer [means you cannot even excite one person to put in some sweat equity – not a good sign about your ability to motivate people.]. Passion is infectious – people respond to it.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

If you are one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who need equity funding to get your startup going (no loans to repay), you are probably overwhelmed at the prospect of finding, contacting and pitching to the huge number of qualified angels and investment groups around the country. Register Internet and social media startup names.

Equity 236

Equity Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Social Media 236

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

They also need to decide whether to structure terms as an equity deal or a convertible security deal. These costs make it preferable to use a convertible security for a raise of this size and to structure as equity financing if you are raising closer to $2 million. ” The Cost of Financing. Even $15-20,000 is too expensive.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 22, 2014

This enables the owner to readily name the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) that exist in the business. Shark Question #4: How much equity and debt is there in your business? In other words, how much of the business is financed with equity (owner’s money) or debt (borrowed money).

CPA 160

CPA Technical Review Later Stage Equity 160

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

Rebranding a business is a marketing strategy wherein a new name, design, concept, term, symbol, and combination of these elements are created for a brand. Also, identify equities that won’t change. You can add flexibility to your brand by not violating previously established values and equities. Always have an open mind.

Technical Review 149

Technical Review Software Review Bankruptcy Equity 149

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 16, 2020

When you’ve properly valued your business, you can use that valuation as collateral for a loan or new equity to expand operations, or establish another location. Namely, you should never associate asset value with business value. With a properly valued company, retirement to that tropical paradise could be just around the corner!

Valuation 162

Valuation CPA Software Review .Net 162

Gust

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

Yet amidst all the partisan cheerleading and name-calling, there has been some discussion of substance. In April 2012, Congress passed the JOBS Act , which authorizes equity crowdfunding and liberalizes some requirements regarding the issuance of securities by privately held companies.

Silicon Valley 187

Silicon Valley San Francisco Intellectual Property Accredited Investor 187

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

David Cohen deserves much credit for building TechStars into an internationally recognized brand name for innovation. But he has helped put Boulder on the consciousness of so many young, aspiring entrepreneurs in search of somewhere other than the San Francisco Bay Area to work & live. It is possible and he’s showing people that.

Seattle 317

Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 20, 2020

All while the majority of the economy is driven greatly by boring industries often owned by private equity, not venture capital. While I am a big proponent of startup ingenuity, grit, sweat-equity and the success stories of our American experiment, when it comes to targeting startups as B2B clients, the cards are stacked heavily against us.

Sweat Equity 107

Sweat Equity Non-Compete Startup Azure 107

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Ron Conway , of SV Angels, and Reid Hoffman , LinkedIn's founder, are names often mentioned in this category. Sweat equity. This unpaid work component is sized in dollars, added to any funds contributed, to represent the total contribution of a founding partner and converted to an equity ownership percentage in a new startup.

Software Review 120

Software Review Sweat Equity Accredited Investor Angel Investor 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

Note to Chinese Communist party – the best name for your propaganda department should probably not be the “Propaganda Department.”). And when the government tools to detect encrypted VPN’s get more sophisticated, (as it did last year), Chinese users just use stealthier tools. It’s an amazing cat and mouse system. Beijing’s Academic Hub.

China 328

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 328

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2014

Another strategy I have used is to go to LinkedIn and search through people who used to work for the company as a way of surfacing up old names of people either to be references or to suggest references. I know that in later-stage growth equity deals some firms even hire third-parties who will do the reference calls.

Technical Review 302

Technical Review Hiring Later Stage Employee 302

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 28, 2020

Define your company’s brand through philosophy, capabilities, goals, and equity, then see how your consumer and brand relate to pinpoint the company’s overall purpose. Respect Your Name. After recognizing your target audience , pinpoint those consumers’ macro trends, wants, and needs.

Small Business 147

Small Business Developer Management Marketing 147

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

Risk capital takes equity (stock ownership) in your company instead of debt (loans) in exchange for cash. Founders can now access the largest pool of risk capital that ever existed –in the form of Private Equity (Angel Investors, family offices , Venture Capitalists (VC’s) and Hedge Funds.). The Bad News. How will you figure this out?

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Private Equity 120

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 29, 2019

Bank provides two types of finances, namely, working capital and funding. People nowadays are also offering incentives, coupons, and equity to the people involved in startup funding. However, here, we have attempted to shortlist a few easier ways for funding a startup. Bank loans.

Startup 122

Startup Government Valuation Technical Review 122

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Traditional brands, namely eCommerce/luxury fashion and CPG brands are trying to figure out how to get in the action. Toya represents a new type of digital ,branded, social experiences that are already creating brand equity. The way we valued Toya is not only by the future value of potential cash flows.

Technical Review 178

Technical Review South Korea Due Diligence IP 178

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

Muun found a market need but failed to compete with bigger names that provided customers with authoritative content and resources. Use brand marketing strategies to build brand equity. Brand equity is what makes people reach for Tylenol over the pharmaceutical alternative. Both companies suffered from a fatal lack of marketing.

Marketing 110

Marketing Product Audience Equity 110

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

You never got around to agreeing exact equity splits but you had many conversations about it. In Silicon Valley the name I hear mentioned most often for very early stage deals is Joey Tran from Fortis. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. He represented us at one firm I invested in and did a great job.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318