TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

He serves on the boards of OCEANIX, Atom Computing, Conscious Cultures and MycoWorks. This is one of the lessons I wish I understood when raising a Series B, so I hope you find this advice helpful when you navigate your larger raises. An elegant strategy memo is your most important document. Gaetano Crupi. Contributor.

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Dream It

APRIL 7, 2020

blocking a quorum, or preventing a shareholder/board action). This could be through shareholder voting rights (set through a super-majority that gives that investor a block) or at the board-level (on certain decisions that require board approval like the consent of each preferred director). Don’t agree to it, it’s bad advice.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2014

I can assure you that move wasn’t a walk in the park for the board. It was written by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann and documents the 2012 election from the early GOP primary fights right through to the final outcome. Startup Advice' Foursquare? Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai split. Noah Glass. Then Jack Dorsey.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Board Meetings. How do VCs break out of group think when they are shuttling from one board meeting to the next, from one conference to the other and talking with all the same people? This can be your star Chief Architect who loves to code but hates having to handle the admin like testing, documentation, recruiting, etc.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2010

I had to understand their business requirements and document them all. And few people in my experience do this well so many board meetings wander. Tags: Startup Advice. I next moved into system design where I designed computer systems to deal with large industrial natural gas customers and telecommunication companies.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2009

This is part of my ongoing posts on Startup Advice. My advice: don’t. I worked with the board who encouraged me to bring in heavy weights. I was able to hire the former European head of sales for the largest document management player in the world. Tags: Start-up Advice startup technology. Your solution?

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Gust

DECEMBER 8, 2011

In Part I , I gave a quick summary of the who, when and why of forming and documenting a new startup company. I’m reluctant to give legalistic disclaimers, but in this instance, I do need to emphasize that the material in this article is legal information , not legal advice. Appoint Newco’s initial Board of Directors.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

In 1995, while in high school, Seth wanted to start a business scanning paper documents for companies, but realized it was a non-starter when he learned that a scanner costs $4k. What is the communication rhythm and dynamics with the board and in other meetings? Seth likes to get together with board members every 30 days.

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Y Combinator

AUGUST 11, 2020

With the launch of YC’s list of startups hiring for fall 2020 interns , I’ve been getting a lot of requests for advice from students about their upcoming fall plans. This might include foregoing any pre-paid tuition or room and board at your university; it might also incur re-enrollment fees. Talk to your parents.

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Hunter Walk

NOVEMBER 11, 2024

For startups, a good Board is better than no Board, but a bad Board is worse than anything. One component of a good Board is a high value add Independent Board Member, which in my experience, often doesn’t get added early enough (for a variety of reasons). I knew I wanted to help build it from the ground up.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

Additional value outside of legal documents – Most lawyers who work with early stage startups secretly want to be entrepreneurs but they earn too much money to quit – the golden handcuffs I’ve found that the best of them think like entrepreneurs, though, and hang out at startup events. Our lives are intertwined.

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Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

All other board functions are secondary. Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. Actually, there are two legal duties of board members. It is the board, made up of individual members, that is responsible for the care and maintenance of the corporate person.

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Berkonomics

MAY 23, 2024

Give one percent equity to each outside board member vesting over two to four years of service. Many early-stage CEOs and board members have asked for some guidance regarding pay and time commitments for board members. Here is my best advice, based upon many boards and many years. Realistic human images.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 22, 2020

When Pete approached me for advice, I recommended the “Failure-Proofing” strategy, which is a pragmatic and easy-to-use technique to defend against planning and project disasters. He recruited Ann, a member of the firm’s Advisory Board, to be an independent facilitator. 3 Key Steps to Preventing Disasters in Implementing Decisions.

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Dream It

MAY 4, 2021

Board meetings can be very powerful events where founders get valuable feedback, ideas, and strategic direction. Oftentimes, founders dread board meetings and look at them as low ROI events. Their primary role is to confirm the board meeting agenda. Tip #3: Focus on key issues How do you know what a “key issue” is?

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NZ Entrepreneur

APRIL 28, 2019

Here’s how to build a startup advisory board. And while it often seems more involved and complex than it is in reality, setting up an advisory board is something you should look to put in place in the early stages of your entrepreneurial venture. Selecting an advisory board is the tricky part.

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This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

Not only will it cost you multiples more than average in legal fees to get this deal done, but you might wind up with some gnarly documents with terms that prevent other investors from wanting to come in. That’s why I normally ask for a Board Observer seat. It will save everyone a lot of cost and time. On one hand, I get this.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

Bijan Sabet – investor & board member in some small companies you might have heard of like Twitter, Tumblr, Boxee & OMGPOP – took issue with the whole notion that you even need a Powerpoint deck anymore. In Bijan’s post he references Bryce Roberts who recommends getting up and white-boarding. I recommend it.

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Gust

DECEMBER 1, 2011

There are countless related subjects, such as what type of entity to form and in what jurisdiction, how to handle equity compensation and vesting arrangements, determining titles and Board membership, and so on. In next week’s post, I will get into specific documents. Founders now have more options, which is a double-edged sword.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2014

The same can be said of critical decisions in a board meeting or frankly any other meeting where major decisions are ratified. This is a classic mistake many entrepreneurs make so I’d like to offer some constructive advice on how the savvy hand would be played. Why You Should Pre-Meet Board Members.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

If I could persuade you that they’re already in these documents would you consider abandoning this structure? Those terms you fought so hard to get out of “clean term sheets” by using TheFunded, VentureHacks and the like are in your current documents. They often don’t have board seats attached to them.

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Angel Capital Association

JANUARY 25, 2022

The program includes: Startup Package - The legal advice and documents necessary to get a company up and running, all for a discounted flat rate. Free Early Stage Consult - Fox will hire an outside consultant to provide advice on pitch decks or executive summaries. Meeting Space - Need to set up a meeting?

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 18, 2018

Over the years in business and as a member of over forty boards, I have received good advice from corporate attorneys and on occasion bad advice as well. There is a line that should be drawn in a relationship between corporate attorney and CEO or board. Some are experienced enough to provide great business advice.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros. They offer leadership conferences, regular content articles on leadership, board pack templates and the like. Partner Leverage.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2010

Running the “Agile&# Board. Most early stage startups having monthly board meetings. And I often recommend that board meetings be every 5 or 6 weeks rather than 4 to give enough elapsed time for stuff to actually happen between meetings. This post is about what happens BETWEEN board meetings.

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board VC advice development 301

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2012

Even if you have an hour booked, the advice is the same. The approach I recommend is to build the investor presentation first, by iterating on the bullets with your team, and then fleshing out the points into a full-blown text-based business plan document. Here are the ten slides you need: Problem and market need. Executive team.

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TechCrunch

JULY 30, 2021

Three out of five respondents said their companies don’t have a documented plan to handle a leadership change, even though, by that same ratio, they acknowledge that a documented plan is the biggest determinant in seamless transitions. But this documented history cannot be a hagiography of the departing CEO.

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AsiaTechDaily

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

Amid these issues, Byju’s CFO, Ajay Goel, left the company following the earlier departures of auditor Deloitte and three key board members. The investment giant then criticized Byju’s in July for not adequately evolving and neglecting investor advice. As of the end of March, Prosus valued Byju’s only at $5.1

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Berkonomics

APRIL 12, 2018

So, my advice is simple. Recognize the realities of the times; and do all possible to protect the company by documenting behavioral or skill related problems to the employee file. Issues that seem clearly based upon ineptitude morph into age or gender-related epic battles that most always end poorly.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Startups that are backed by professional financial investors almost always have a Board of Directors that consists of some set of founders, investors and sometimes independent directors. You will often find these governing conditions in the “protective provisions” section of your company’s legal documents.

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board startup advice frameworks 204

Berkonomics

AUGUST 9, 2010

Over the years in business and as a member of over forty boards, I have received good advice from corporate attorneys and on occasion bad advice as well. There is a line that should be drawn in a relationship between corporate attorney and CEO or board.

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Gust

JUNE 19, 2012

He tells the story of his baptism by fire in startup-dom, a series of negotiations including office rent, sublet, getting people on board, getting the media to care, dealing with recruiters, dealing with the tech prima donnas, and (a favorite of many) “dealing with pesky VCs.” It seems like good advice to me. I like that.

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Ecosystem Builder Hub

AUGUST 14, 2020

What advice the initiators have for other ecosystems looking to hire a professional ecosystem builder. We knew that when her fellowship ended, we needed to bring someone on board who was solely focused on this work. Not all service providers will be on board with the initiatives. Advice for replication in other ecosystems.

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TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies. Any advice or insights on how to present a strong case for an O-1A or EB-1A? The information provided in “Dear Sophie” is general information and not legal advice. Ask it here.

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TechCrunch

AUGUST 10, 2022

Our best-practice advice to CEOs is to cut deep enough that they are confident there will not be a second round in the next few months. Earlier this summer, we began sharing a five-page document that outlined our guidance with some of our portfolio company CEOs that was based on our personal experience and observation.

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TechCrunch

MARCH 28, 2022

I took the advice from someone in Silicon Valley who told me ‘You need a C Corp…that’s what we invest in,’” Requarth told TechCrunch. Many called us worried and scared that funding was drying up while some had boards telling them to fire people,” Requarth recalls. “I It started by documenting the process to create Latitud. “We

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TechCrunch

DECEMBER 19, 2022

Musk says a lot of things, and then says some more things, so we’ll see if he actually takes his advice and abides by the results of the poll. First, the company addressed official documents with a DigiLocker integration to the Files app , and said that India’s regulations should provide legal and innovation certainty to firms.

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