Learn how to start a business from some of the world's brightest entrepreneurs.
Each week we publish new episodes featuring questions that you ask.
On this channel you'll learn:
- How to Start a Business - Get small business ideas - Learn how to set up a business - Steps to starting a business - Learn what businesses to start - Mistakes other make when opening a business - How to open a small business
And a ton of other things! If you want to start a business, this is the channel for you. You'll learn how to open and set up a business to become the very best you.
Through years of coaching other entrepreneurs, we have found that many don't start a business, because they are afraid of making mistakes.
Saving up enough money to start a business, and making a mistake can be costly.
Through providing valuable information, real stories, we aim to help you and others from making costly mistakes and help give you the confidence to move forward.
I'm a newbie, can i ask when you vest the founder shares and after a year you collect say your 10%. Do you have to 'exercise' those shares? You have to evaluate your company at some random amount? Or can you just collect them for $0 from some prior founder agreement. Is this where the tax problem and exception he was talking about comes into play? Thanks! I'm from Australia btw if that helps at all!
Not the best advice out there. Getting close to an equal split (within reason) ensures longevity for the company. Saying that equal splits causes issues is just bananas. You want your cofounders (tech or non-tech) to care about the business as much as you do. To mitigate the risk of conflict between immovable parties, you can agree on a specific conflict resolution plan beforehand. This ensures that conflict can be resolved without having an insanely imbalanced split.
Interestingly, you talk about everything using personal examples. We at JetSoftPro, a software development service, often go the other way, being the tech support for hire. From our experience, entrepreneurs looking for a technical co-founder can contact a vendor and outsource.
I only wish the one being interviewed was given enough time to stop talking and have the space for thought process before being abruptly interrupted with the interviewer's next need. Just let things flow more. Do not keep interjecting. It's not an efficient way to get the best out of an interview.
Brilliant video. Richards is a straight talker: Top advice without fluff. My startup has traction and I'm currently looking for a technical co-founder. It's a breath of fresh air to watch an actionable video that's not by YC or affiliated start-up.
This is the most valuable 19 minutes I’ve ever spent on RU-vid. Thank you for sharing actual concrete advice not fluff, and not waffling to waste time for more revenue!
I hope you reply to this... can a Start-up which is raising Seed Funding allow shares in form of equity? Even if they aren't real shares but a valuation which the founders have worked on?
Be cautious of referrals. I had one highly recommended, but they said sometimes he disappears on his boat on the Rast coast. I'm on the West coast. So, he took my retainer and totally disappeared.
I am currently joining a start as a COO with a company that’s only been in business for about eight months. the two founders have put their own money into the company so far without any investors.I will be the main face of the company and running the day-to-day operations. There is not currently any revenue coming in, but we do have contracts lined up how much can I expect for equity? Is 5% too low or too high? My starting salary is about 40% less than what I made it with my previous company.
This is one of those videos that are hidden gems, I'm confident what you learn from here will kickstart your career. You're in the right place if you find this.
50:50 is not always a problem necessarily. I had a successful tech startup with a former co-founder. We had a lot of trust between us and decided to split the stock equally. The main problem was that making it 60/40 would make the other feel more disappointed and not truly owning the startup as a team. Further more I think, even in the case that you do 60 / 40 and you totally disagree on the direction of the company, even if one person can make all the decisions on their own, it wouldnt be liked by the other not being involved in the decision. This will still hurt the atmosphere in the founding team. 50 / 50 worked out for us, maybe it's rare, but it worked
I also didn't do founder vesting btw, we bootstrapped the startup and got acquired without ever getting VC investment. But it sounds like something that's good to get in place from the start
Thank you for this breakdown. Just what I needed. I had a terrible experience with my former startup because of this equity issue. Thank God I know better now. Starting out all over again but this time, on a wiser and better note.
If two shared at minimum 20%+ (20/40, 35/25..) each, then it’s still a majority and allows for 15% to be allocated to future hires and up to another 15% allocated for outside funding, all without equity dilution.
Thanks so much for the content. I feel like I found a portion of the answer I’m looking for. I really just need a clear answer though. I just got offered a position of CMO as a co-founder and I have been offered 5% of the company but I’m not quite sure what I should ask for or expect as a salary.. because it’s a start up I’m trying to figure out how exactly do I get paid actual money.. 😅I’m afraid to ask because I don’t want to seem nervous and get duped for my lack of understanding. this is my first time stepping into a position like this. I’ve only ever done Marketing and Consulting. this is a whole new world to me. I would really appreciate it if anybody had any answers as to what I should ask for as an initial salary or how I should go about acquiring a payment outside of equity because we are in the pre-seed/seed round so the company doesn’t have much money. What should I ask as far as a salary agreement and expect it to scale overtime?
Sir you have all the great and helpful answers, this is definitely come with experience! This is a TOP A video which deserves a lot of credits, 1B thanks to you guys !
Thank you for all the information! I have a question. If you're 65/35, where does the 15 % come from for the stock option pool? so it's not 65/35 from the 100%, but after the 15% is taken off, so essentially it's 65/35 of 85%, correct?
Each time you raise funding.. there will be dilution in your stake..if ceo and cmo have 65/35.. then if raise another 10% then ceo's and cmo's stake get reduced.
