Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2013

My internal compass says that “country-club” entrepreneurs struggle to make as big of an impact because it’s really hard to totally change a system that you’re part of and have a vested interest in. It’s hard to be a rebel when upsetting the apple cart affects a bunch of people like you. Take Maker Studios.

Churn Rate 371

Churn Rate Vesting Viral eCommerce 371

SoCal CTO

MAY 4, 2010

- A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , April 19, 2010 5 Tips On VC Alignment: Discuss The Exit Before You Enter - OnStartups , April 29, 2010 Founder Agreements – Vesting, Vesting and more Vesting - High Contrast , April 25, 2010 Web Sites and Books for Novice Programmers - Feld Thoughts , April 25, 2010 Adding a Co-Founder In 140 Characters (..)

CTO Hire 150

CTO Hire Vesting Startup Venture Capital 150

The Next Web

OCTOBER 7, 2013

They were referring to non-founder engineers, most commonly the first hire for technology businesses. It is typical for employees to vest their options over four years with a one year cliff, which means a new hire must stay on the company for at least one year to see any shares. How do you feel about that number?

Engineer 129

Engineer Dilution Option Pool Vesting 129

The Startup Toolkit

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

false As a cheatsheet, the “normal” equity structure is: Founder terms: 4 year vesting, 1 year cliff, for everyone, including you. 2.0% ) : 4 year vesting, optional cliff, full acceleration on exit. When it comes to equity terms, there are only 3 things to understand: vesting, cliffs, and acceleration. Cliffs & vesting.

Vesting 56

Vesting Equity Cofounder Technical Review 56

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

But as with many people who have a vested interest in fast rounds being assembled, they don’t quite get why it is so important that VCs actually take their time. interviewing critical hires at a time where they have 3 other offers. Both are right. founder fighting. lack of traction, lack of downstream financing availability.

Syndication 356

Syndication Syndicate Cofounder Early Stage 356

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

Every startup should have at least a couple of outside advisors who are not major investors or family members, anxious to talk to new investors and key new hires. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary. Any outside advisors or board members available for discussion?

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

The Next Web

JUNE 15, 2012

And giving equity as compensation can help build loyalty among contractors and consultants, as they now have a truly vested interest in your company’s success. It’s wise to create a stock options pool that includes all the employees and contractors you plan on hiring in the next 18 months and how many shares each might get.

Equity 116

Equity Stock Options Vesting Stock 116

VC Adventure

AUGUST 16, 2020

But it will also change the nature of your workforce if you only hire employees that can work for well below market cash comp. Create option “bands” Every company should create a schedule of new hire grants for each level position in their business. It’s also important not to go crazy with the trade-off.

Programming 148

Programming Vesting Equity Software Review 148

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Your highest priority right now is hiring the 1 or 2 people that are going to join your company and make a difference. It’s clear that America has a vested interest in promoting entrepreneurship in many regions in the country to stimulate innovation & job creation. There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder.

Seattle 317

Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 22, 2010

I never hire job hoppers. You have tough choices to make about whom you hire on your team. Now is the time that you need “all hands on deck.&# That awesome gal you hired in engineering has job options and she knows it. And he has already vested 75% of his stock options at your company. Everyone loves you.

Hiring 392

Hiring Employee Vesting Silicon Valley 392

Scott Edward Walker

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

(And please don’t tell us to hire a lawyer.) Vesting Restrictions. The first deadly mistake relates to vesting restrictions. Answer Below are four mistakes that could destroy your venture down the road if not handled properly today. IP Ownership.

Vesting 89

Vesting Software Review IP Intellectual Property 89

ReadWriteStart

MAY 3, 2012

With a four-year vesting schedule and a six-month “cliff” or trial period, you can get others to join in on the fun of startup, and make progress without expending cash. Outsource: Don’t hire people, use independent consultants who come highly recommended from your peers when you need to bring in expertise. Bootstrap 1. Bootstrap 5.

Bootstrapping 137

Bootstrapping Software Review Startup Equity 137

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2015

While he kept bringing the conversation back to their big valuation I tried to steer the conversation back to how they were going to deal with: training the influx of new hires – in both culture and job specific tasks. retaining their existing hires who were working for intern-like salaries with little equity. the company had.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 11, 2024

Hire Qualified Drivers Just as hiring skilled and productive employees is vital for a startup, bringing on board qualified drivers with clean driving records and appropriate licenses reduces road risks substantially. Still, the right commercial auto insurance policy provides confidence to focus on core operations, not liability risk.

Technical Review 147

Technical Review Houston Dividend Startup 147

crowdSPRING Blog

JULY 1, 2011

How to Hire a Graphic Designer – [link]. How to Hire a Graphic Designer – [link]. Interesting but punitive provision in Skype’s option plan allowing repurchase of even vested options at grant price – [link]. Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

Social Media 92

Social Media Small Business Design Media 92

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

Gadea leveraged his connections in Silicon Valley to seed viral distribution of the product, which, in turn, generated the revenue to hire engineers and scale the company. is a SaaS tool that companies can use to assess engineers before they hire them. Vested Technology spent $17k on their MVP. spent $1k on their MVP.

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 78

Up and Running

JUNE 7, 2021

Staunch in his belief in paying workers a respectable wage and in hiring women, people of color, and individuals with disabilities for high-paying jobs when doing so was not an accepted practice, he virtually created the American middle class. The history of social responsibility in business.

Framework 191

Framework United States Vesting Employee 191

View from Seed

JANUARY 5, 2016

Even experienced startup execs who have hired and built teams sometimes find there are nuances to learn between building a team within a larger company versus hiring the first dozen folks in a startup. What did we like/not like about past companies’ approach to hiring and team development? It’s a moving target.

Founder 120

Founder Cofounder Startup Early Stage 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

Every startup should have at least a couple of outside advisors who are not major investors or family members, anxious to talk to new investors and key new hires. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary. Any outside advisors or board members available for discussion?

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

Every startup should have at least a couple of outside advisors who are not major investors or family members, anxious to talk to new investors and key new hires. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary. Any outside advisors or board members available for discussion?

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

And even this can’t stop their employees from fleeing after two years of vesting to move on to the next hot startup. Hire fewer employees until you’re bursting at the seems with work for the ones you have. For investors life is no different. And do the things that you ARE doing better and with higher quality.

Software Review 150

Software Review Turkey Portfolio Syndication 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2016

My internal compass says that “country-club” entrepreneurs struggle to make as big of an impact because it’s really hard to totally change a system that you’re part of and have a vested interest in. So positive chips are a great signal for me. But chips come in multiple flavors and it’s a fine line between positive and negative.

Churn Rate 150

Churn Rate Vesting Dilution Europe 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2011

Hire your co-founder. Vested over 4 years. Involve them in fund raising, hiring, strategy, etc. So trust me when I tell you that you can hire incredibly talented people for 30% of your company. If you do decide to go down the 50/50 route, please at least consider: Make sure you have founder vesting for both of you.

Cofounder 393

Cofounder Founder Vesting Founder Vesting 393

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Standards arehigher; people are more sympathetic to what youre doing; the kindof people you want to hire want to live there; supporting industriesare there; the people you run into in chance meetings are in thesame business. They might accidentally hire someonebad, but its not going to kill the company. Idont think theres an answer.

Startup 108

Startup Software Review Hiring Silicon Valley 108

www.thedailymuse.com

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

We’re Hiring. What Start-ups Should Know About Hiring a Lawyer. Hiring and working with a lawyer is often confusing and daunting, especially if you’ve never done it before. What should new entrepreneurs look for when hiring a lawyer? Hiring employees. We’re Hiring. Get Involved. Meet the Team.

Hiring 56

Hiring LLC Intellectual Property Private Equity 56

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

For example, a seed firmshould be able to give advice about how to approach VCs, which VCsobviously dont need to do; whereas VCs should be able to giveadvice about how to hire an "executive team," which is not an issuein the seed stage. vesting would in that situation force founders to toe the line. So theyre going to raise $200,000.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

The most common comment in this long and complicated MBA Mondays series on Employee Equity is the question of how much equity should you grant when you make a hire. For your first key hires, three, five, maybe as much as ten, you will probably not be able to use any kind of formula. First, a caveat.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 19, 2020

Of course, you have a vested interest in selling your business as the best business out there in your field. By showing prospects an existing happy customer, you give them a taste of what their life could be like if they hired you. Testimonials, reviews, and case studies all play a similar role in the lead nurturing process.

Video 101

Video Marketing Technical Review Software Review 101

The Next Web

AUGUST 26, 2013

Today, in steps 10-12 I want to discuss with you raising your first round of money, hiring to develop and maintain your company culture, as well as defining your role in the management of your startup. But never give away shares without vesting. Learn how to hire and maintain your company culture. 10-20% for employees.

Management 120

Management Cofounder Startup Bootstrapping 120

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

How long should people vest – four years? Investors routinely subject founder shares to vesting, but there is no rule that says that founders cannot, or should not, impose vesting on themselves. And the vesting doesn’t necessarily need to be time-based either. Five years? Buffer Pin It Digg Digg.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 13, 2015

Lastly, when we hire our first employees, we should always do it with the appropriate documentation, in which there should not lack the specification that everything they create while working for us, on the level of intellectual property, belongs to the company.

Delaware 100

Delaware Technical Review United States Vesting 100

techcrunch.com

JUNE 22, 2012

Having to invent ad hoc terms to work together, negotiating terms, and throwing money into hiring lawyers can really hamstring the formation of productive founder-advisor relationships — something that can really make or break a startup in its early stages.

Equity 94

Equity San Francisco Startup Silicon Valley 94

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 22, 2017

Hire Professional Services. If you’re not ready to hire a bookkeeper or accountant and you have a business partner, share the job of keeping financial records straight. You both have a vested interest in understanding how financially healthy the business is, and sharing bookkeeping tasks will keep everyone up to speed.

Software Review 95

Software Review Startup Vesting Forecast 95

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 19, 2019

While we all solve problems, managers and consultants are professionals — they’re hired and paid to do so. Consultants aren’t immune to bias, but, as outsiders, they don’t have a vested interest in solutions and recommendations. Problem solving is a dominant form of how we think and one of our most complex intellectual activities.

Non-Compete 113

Non-Compete Vesting Boston Agile 113

Altgate

JUNE 25, 2012

One who attracted much attention is David Choe, the graffiti artist hired to paint the company’s first headquarters. Mark Pincus of social gaming company Zynga recently confronted a similar problem when he tried to reclaim equity that he felt he had over-allocated to some early hires. They fail to include vesting terms (i.e.,

Equity 44

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 44

Steve Blank

JULY 19, 2010

As a founder I fought with VC’s over vesting as they brought in a new CEO and walked me out the door. As a board member I negotiated with founding CEO’s over vesting when I thought it was their time to go. Yet the traditional vesting model ignores this. It’s time to rethink how we vest stock for founding CEOs.

Vesting 264

Vesting Liquidity Event Founder Vesting Venture Capital 264

venturehacks.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Build in founder vesting (a.k.a. As a corporate lawyer for 15+ years, I just wanted to echo your sound advice that co-founders should impose reasonable vesting restrictions on the equity issued them. Geeks can always be hired. the “Pre-Nup&# ) to keep the breakup from getting messy.

Cofounder 101

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 101