What Your Cap Table Tells An Investor In The First 30 Seconds
Before anyone reads your deck closely, the ownership spreadsheet has already answered the questions that matter. Here is what they are and how to fix the wrong answers.
The Startups Desk
Editorial Staff
The Startups Desk covers how companies are formed, financed and sold: incorporation, cap tables, SAFEs and priced rounds, venture capital, accelerators, bootstrapping and exits. Reporting under this byline is produced by the editorial staff of Founder Insider.
Articles by The Startups Desk
The Real Cost Of Incorporating Your Startup In The Wrong Place
Where and how you form your company decides who can invest, what you owe each year and what it costs to undo later.
Founder Vesting And The 83(b) Election: The 30-Day Deadline Explained
Why founders put vesting on their own shares, what the 83(b) election changes about the tax bill, and the filing window that cannot be fixed once it closes.
SAFE Or Convertible Note: What You Are Actually Agreeing To
Both instruments postpone the valuation argument, but they treat time, debt and dilution very differently. How each one works and the clauses to read twice.
What Actually Happens At Your First Priced Round, Step By Step
From the term sheet to the wire, a priced round converts old instruments, resizes the option pool and rewrites your charter. Here is the sequence and the traps.
How A Venture Capital Fund Works, And Why It Changes Who It Backs
Fees, carry, fund life and the math of returning a fund explain most investor behavior that founders find puzzling. A plain guide to the machine behind the check.
The Term Sheet Clauses That Matter More Than Your Valuation
Liquidation preferences, anti-dilution, board seats and protective provisions decide who gets paid and who decides. What each clause does, and what diligence follows.
The Cash Math Every Bootstrapped Founder Should Run Every Month
Without investors, cash timing is the business. The numbers to track, the money that only looks like yours and the levers that buy months of runway.
How Bootstrapped Founders Pay Themselves Without Starving The Company
Owner draws, payroll salaries and the S corporation reasonable-compensation rule work very differently. How each works and how to avoid a surprise tax bill.
How To Price An Accelerator Offer Before You Give Up Equity
An accelerator deal is a financing with a valuation hidden inside it. How to calculate what you are really paying and the questions to ask before you sign.
Accelerator, Incubator, Studio Or Corporate Program: Who Wants What
Early-stage programs look alike from the outside but want very different things from founders. How each model makes money and the terms that reveal it.
Acqui-Hire Or Acquisition: Who Actually Gets Paid When You Sell
How deal structure, the preference stack and retention packages decide where sale proceeds go, and why an acqui-hire can leave common holders with little.
How Founder Secondary Sales Work, And Why The Company Gets A Say
Selling some of your shares before an exit is possible, but transfer restrictions, approval rights, valuation knock-on effects and tax rules shape every deal.