Ockham Technologies (FD, Tuesday, Week 5)
founders-dilemmasyear-twoSplitting equity early: high ability to attract good co-founders, low incentive to build value
Splitting equity late: low ability to attract good co-founders, high incentive to build value
Ways to mitigate => vesting, other "dynamic" ways of dividing up equity (maybe based on performance)
Things ventures want from a board:
-- Objective perspective
-- Domain expertise/industry knowledge
-- Network to hires
-- Network to customers
-- Free time to think about company
-- Ability to negotiate with prospective investors
VCs can do some of these things. In the best cases, VCs have resources/motivation to help. But ventures can sometimes do all of these things without outside investors. Things to think about: founders domain expertise/network, capital requirements, rich vs. king issues.