The Startup Journey

Not sure how "vesting" applies in the Indian context, but Andrew Fife's recommendations - based on the experience of having to close down his start-up - makes a lots of sense to me. Equity is used to attract capital and is a major part of employee compensation packages. Thus, it is very important that startups are as efficient with their equity distribution as they are with their capital. Stocked owned by anyone who isn’t contributing to the companies success represents dead weight, which means there is less in the pot to attract new investors and team members. No matter how close of friends, how much you trust each other or how good your intentions are money comes between people and everyone over estimates their own contributions. Furthermore, founders become highly emotional about their companies. Thus, the process of negotiating taking back stock from founders is not rational and inherently very difficult. However, vesting schedules reduce the difficult negotiation to...

Ed Sim has a post on how and why hiring a VP of Sales too early can cost a stat-up dearly: 1. VPs of Sales need to make their comp. Typical salaries range from $150-200k plus performance equaling a total package of $300 to $350k. Most VPs of Sales will try to get you to guarantee the first year or at least the first couple quarters of compensation to offset the risk of working at such an early company. 2. All VPs need people to manage which means your VP of Sales will want to hire a bunch of reps to grow the business. The experieced enterprise direct sales reps will cost you $80-100k base plus performance of up to $150-175k total comp. Once again many of the best reps will want to get some guaranteed draw for at least a quarter or two to get started. What ends up being a situation where you expect to bring on a performance-oriented sales team becomes one which many of your new hires get guaranteed comp for a couple quarters. The burn rate added to your company almost doubl...

VC Ed Sim has a post advising start-ups not to have a too top heavy team too early on: When I fund an early stage company, I would typically rather have an entrepreneur that has product vision, a development team to execute around that, and the openness to build a team around him as the company grows. It can be death to have a top-heavy organization from Day 1 because startups change and change frequently during the early days. Don't lock yourself in with big salaries, big options, and big egos until you really know what market you are going after, the skills and experience you will need to win that market, and the product is ready for prime-time. Arun Natarajan is the Founder of Venture Intelligence India, which tracks venture capital activity in India and Indian-founded companies worldwide. View sample issues of Venture Intelligence India newsletters and reports.