Startups Timeline / goal setting to begin your first start up |
- Timeline / goal setting to begin your first start up
- Did you build an audience before launching your product(s)?
- Structure to give cofounder security
- Why do unvested shares immediately vest during an acquisition?
- When do investors generally install a management team (tech startups)?
- Developers not happy with their share of profit
- What to give investors instead of equity?
- Dealing with a non-technical boss
- What's the best way to charge for a product
- How much does the website tech and scalability matter in a small startup when getting acquired?
- Is it illegal to break my company into two companies?
- Just joined a startup, need marketing advice.
| Timeline / goal setting to begin your first start up Posted: 25 Jan 2022 08:07 AM PST Hey everyone, I tried searching to see if this question has been asked before but couldn't find anything. I am writing out my goals, just because thats how I operate, and am looking to put a realistic timeframe on when I should plan to launch my first startup. I am wondering how others have approached this. Did you just have an idea and go for it immediately? Did you say 'after college / after working in a certain position for x amount of time'? A bit on my foreseeable goals. I am entering the saas sales space t a midtier company to learn the selling aspect. I am going back to school (bs) to study IT & business as well as network. Career changing from another industry. I have a few ideas on business(es) that I want to start already, but do not want to do them half-way. Anyway, I am thinking of giving myself a 5 year goal, where at 5 years I will start my startup no-questions-asked, but would love to see how others have approached this as well to set themselves up for success. [link] [comments] |
| Did you build an audience before launching your product(s)? Posted: 24 Jan 2022 12:19 PM PST Hey everyone, I'd be happy to learn about people who used audience-led sales successfully and what are the best practices for doing it right? It can be audience in Twitter, YouTube, Instagram or any other platform. What kind of content you created? How much time it took to gain enough audience? etc. Would love to hear any story🙂 [link] [comments] |
| Structure to give cofounder security Posted: 25 Jan 2022 06:56 AM PST I'm in a challenging scenario (pre-seed) where I only have 1x primary funding option: a cofounder offer which comes with his investment. The caveat is that my potential cofounder has been ousted from his previous company (I know what happened and this is not a red flag) so wants assurances this wont happen again. Follow on rounds would not be equity based, so we were going to do a 50:50 split without vesting, giving him security he can't be forced out (I appreciate this scenario is not ideal). However I've since built a relationship with another investor who could come in for a smaller amount (getting equity) but would make our chances of success higher. But this, in theory, means we have control over the cofounder. Are there any arrangements / structures / intruments that could appease all parties? Help appreciated! [link] [comments] |
| Why do unvested shares immediately vest during an acquisition? Posted: 24 Jan 2022 10:12 AM PST My startup is revising our operating agreement, and I'm considering modifying the provision about what happens to unvested shares during a liquidity event. I understand that a typical operating agreement, all unvested shares vest during a liquidity event such as an acquisition. Either they vest immediately (single trigger) or they vest after the founder stays with the acquiring company for a certain period of time to ensure a smooth transition (double trigger). But is it possible to structure the agreement so that unvested shares are "cancelled" and then redistributed back to the founders equally? Here's why I'm asking: Our startup is a software product that we bootstrapped to build over the past 5 years. We have 2 founders A and B who are highly technical and essentially built the entire platform. The product is profitable, so we could theoretically sell it to someone in the short term, or else ride it out as a substantial passive income play for the foreseeable future. We are now bringing on a new CEO (founder C) who could help us scale the business to a 10X over the next 3 years. He will help us raise money, hire more engineers, and hopefully exit for much more than we are worth today. We are hoping to structure our operating agreement so that founders A and B have already vested a significant amount of equity, because they've already delivered on a profitable product. Founder C (the new CEO) doesn't have much today, but he will vest a significant amount of the business over the next 3 years, because if he can take us to the promised land then he deserves that chunk. The problem is that if an acquisition offer comes in tomorrow or in the next couple months (not unreasonable, we have been approached about acquisitions in the past), it would be really unfair for the new CEO to immediately vest all of his future equity and take away from founders A and B who have gotten us to this point. I want to have the best of both worlds. If the CEO helps us grind it out and get to a 10x valuation, then he gets a big piece of the pie like he deserves. If we end up selling early and just cashing out on the engineering effort that the technical founders delivered, then I want them to get more. Is there a reason that structuring the operating agreement to "cancel" unvested equity in a liquidity event is a bad idea? [link] [comments] |
| When do investors generally install a management team (tech startups)? Posted: 24 Jan 2022 02:07 PM PST Hi all, I am in the process of evaluating some job opportunities at tech startups that are at various stages of funding/size. One thing I'm (obviously) looking at when evaluating the opportunities is the leadership teams. Some of the companies look promising (well funded, good press, good market opportunity for the product, etc.), but then when I look at the leadership teams, it is largely people with what I would consider to be inadequate experience for their respective positions. For example - the eventual desired outcome of most everyone who joins a startup is hoping for is some kind of liquidity event, be it IPO or acquisition, so it is important that you have a CFO/CEO who have been around the block a bit to navigate that process. Some of the companies I'm looking at have CEOs, CFOs, etc., whose most senior experience is like Director of Finance or something like that, which is a good bit down the experience totem pole from the experience you ideally want to take a company public. So - what I'm wondering is, presumably the PE investors will want to install an experienced management team as the time approaches to go public (if that's the route). Does anyone have any insight on when that typically happens, be it a certain funding round, a certain valuation, revenue run rate, # of employees, etc.? Are the companies I'm looking at just too early stage? For reference, they are generally series C or later, with a pretty healthy ($100m plus) amount of funding already raised. [link] [comments] |
| Developers not happy with their share of profit Posted: 24 Jan 2022 01:34 PM PST Hello everyone! About year and a half ago, a friend and I started working on a startup idea - managenent software for a specific profession. We spent 1 year doing market research and creating a prototype of the product. Since we don't really have the money needed to pay developers create the software we decided to offer a share of 12,5% to our back-end developer and 12,5% share to our front-end developer to create the software. They were working on the project for a past few months and at the todays meeting they requested that we all have equal shares of the company (25% to each of us). They are getting 25% in total to develop and maintain the software, while my friend and I brought the idea to the table along with the 2 year old recognizable brand and software prototype and design. Also, we would be doing marketing, sales, running the company, customer support, etc. Also, I have a lot of valuable contacts in the branch that is our target group. I feel like they are asking for too much... Am I wrong? [link] [comments] |
| What to give investors instead of equity? Posted: 24 Jan 2022 04:14 AM PST For the pre-seed funding round, I don't have enough money from friends/family, so I'm looking for investors (from my family and friends' recommendations). Problem is that I wouldn't want to give out equity for the amount of funding I'll receive, is there any possible, creative way of making an offer that doesn't involve giving out a part of my business? EDIT: I am looking for just a small amount of capital only [link] [comments] |
| Dealing with a non-technical boss Posted: 24 Jan 2022 06:38 AM PST Hi reddit! I was invited to become a partner in a new company that will make electrical instrumentation products. It's four guys, me (electrical engineer, recent grad), guy 1 ( technician, 10 yrs in business), guy 2 (electrical engineer, 2 yrs in business), guy 3 (electrician, 15 years in business). Since we started, most of the work was done by me, being the only one who understood electronics as deep as was needed. Guy 1 wanted me to make a product that was mostly the same as the one from the last company he worked for, and so the company began. It's been about 5 months now, and we have a working prototype. But I've had many, many clashes with guy `1, due to him knowing what he wants, be being clueless about every aspect of how an electronic project should be carried out. guy 2 and guy 3 most of the time are oblivious, due to the three of them having another company. They mostly support guy 1 because of that. I feel like an employee, not a partner. All of the time it seems like I should just bow down and do the job as he wants it and hope for the best. But I feel disappointed. Am I right to feel that way? I have no problem being bossed around, it's just that most of the discussions we have are: Guy 1: "I don't think it should be this way" Me: "Why? I did it because of this and that" Guy 1: "I don't think that it's right" Me: "Why?' Guy 1: "No, no. Remake this and that." And then I lose my shit most of the time. [link] [comments] |
| What's the best way to charge for a product Posted: 24 Jan 2022 03:47 AM PST So we soon going to launch a startup and it seems that we lack knowledge about markets, deals, etc... if someone can link something, it would be really appreciated. Let's say we have found a customer who will buy our product (software),How are we going to charge him : one-time payment or subscription? and why ? Does it depend on the laws of the country ? thanks alot [link] [comments] |
| How much does the website tech and scalability matter in a small startup when getting acquired? Posted: 24 Jan 2022 03:15 AM PST I just bought a small startup service that once had good traction, but lost it due to inactive owners. The website tech behind it is semi garbage, it's old, but okay. It's not fast, but can be improved upon. When looking at an exit strategy, getting acquired by a bigger company. I can do one of 3 things.
Rebuilding the brand and marketing will of course be happening regardless of which technical solution I choose. [link] [comments] |
| Is it illegal to break my company into two companies? Posted: 24 Jan 2022 11:20 AM PST So I am building a solution in the sustainability sector that has a consumer-facing B2C marketplace component and B2B tech component. Think of it like Amazon - Amazon Marketplace vs FBA/AWS. I started with the marketplace, and I recently got a co-founder who has retail experience working with me (my experience is mainly in the sustainability tech sector). We split the company 60% (me) 30%(co-founder) and 10% options pool. The tech component is at a prototype stage (we have market validation). Recently I pitched the tech component to a famous accelerator program and got accepted (I didn't say anything about the marketplace). They take about 10% of the company for a small investment. So to avoid dilution, I am thinking of separating the tech component and forming a new company. So essentially, I will be a part of two companies that work together but cater to different customer segments, have different revenue models etc., different technology stacks and can even operate as standalone solutions. I would like to know if this is illegal, if not unethical? I am going to bring this up with my co-founder tomorrow. [link] [comments] |
| Just joined a startup, need marketing advice. Posted: 23 Jan 2022 02:01 AM PST I need some advice/ideas on what I should execute upon first. I just joined a startup (unpaid with expectation of equity when/if I prove to be a valuable asset). This company does have paid employees, I just decided not to be one because I don't need the money, I'd rather take an ownership position. I work a job at night and I usually get at least 3 hours to myself to research, write, and generally mess with my phone at work. I've worked with 2 of these people in the past and we failed our first venture. No money lost because we never invested, we just "wasted" about 2 years. I did learn a lot while I we were "wantrepreneurs", but not enough to claim that I know my head from my ass. The founder of the last company (also the founder of this one) approached me a couple weeks back because we got along well, and his co-founder left him. The company made 100k in revenue last year, so at least we have a product-market fit this time around. I was brought on without a specific job in mind. The founder just likes my mindset, and he figures I'll find my space in the company. I've kind of de facto'd into a marketing position because I'm working remote from Canada (the company is American). I'm being lead to believe that we have a scalability problem, and just not enough clients. The only marketing experience I have is from our past venture, and that failed. I'm not an artist, but I have access to a graphic designer (my wife) for reference on the look/appeal of the marketing side. Basically I take all of my marketing advice from Gary Vee (please criticize me if this is a bad idea). The business model is basically podcast consultation/a marketing agency. We take care of planning/scheduling, recording, host/co-host procurement, pre-production, production(this portion is seriously limiting our scale and I've mentioned that to the founder. He thinks it's a massive value add, I think it's slowing us down. We physically go and setup shop for our clients, and record for them. This is keeping the business local instead of global.), post-production, distribution, and promotion. When someone wants to speak to an audience without the hassle, we've got them covered. The founder has 10 years of podcasting experience, and he's an executive at another company. He's about 15 years older than me (I'm 27). All of the employees/executives are my age or younger, a lot of college students and no one really has any experience with podcasting besides the founder. So far I've mentioned that we should be running our own internally branded podcast with the founder as the host. The idea seems to have fallen upon deaf ears because they want me to take care of it alone. It seems silly to me to be selling the idea of podcasting being the best way to brand your business without actually having our own podcast. Our social posts aren't gaining traction, and I'm supposed to remedy this. I need help because if we can't market our clients work properly, we won't sell. What do I need to prioritize? [link] [comments] |
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