Finance4Founders is pleased to announce its upcoming dinner event “Bootstrap PR: Getting Maximum Exposure on the Cheap” on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at the Hotel Monaco in San Francisco. (Note: Invitation Required)
Our speakers for February are Ross Mayfield of Socialtext.com and David Weekly of PBworks. This month we’ll be talking about how to squeeze the most press and exposure from every bootstrapped dollar. Both PBworks and Socialtext are great examples of great companies who’ve leveraged a great story and various channels and relationships to extend their message on the cheap.
Ross Mayfield, www.socialtext.com
Ross Mayfield is the Chairman, President and co-founder of Socialtext, the first wiki company and leading provider of Enterprise 2.0 solutions. A noted blogger and industry expert, he is a serial and social entrepreneur. Mayfield has grown Socialtext to over 4,000 customers and served as CEO from 2002-2007. Socialtext is backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, SAP Ventures, Intel Capital and Omidyar Network and prominent Silicon Valley angels.
David Weekly, www.pbworks.com
A Boston native and son of a MIT engineer, David has been programming since he was five and has coded for MIT, Harvard, Stanford, There.com, atWeb, and Legato. David wrote the first layman’s description of MP3 in early 1997 and graduated in 2000 with a BS in Computer Science from Stanford, where he was a President Scholar and a finalist in the ACM International Programming Competition.
David started the company that became PBwiki (now PBworks) in 2003, along the way creating SingleStat.us and IMSmarter.
Rebecca Lynn, www.morgenthaler.com
Rebecca joined Morgenthaler’s Menlo Park office in 2007, and she focuses on early-stage investments in mobile, internet services, digital media and financial services. Rebecca began her career at Procter and Gamble where she worked in international new product market entry. She then spent four years at NextCard where she led product development efforts and later served as the Vice President of Marketing where she managed one of the top five largest online marketing efforts. After NextCard, she ran her own consulting business focusing on online marketing for financial services and affiliate marketing.
Finance4Founders is pleased to announce its upcoming dinner event Startup Hiring: I’ve hired all my friends – now what? on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco.
Our speakers for October are Peter Pham of Billshrink.com and Dan Arkind of Jobscore.com. Our topic for discussion is on how early stage founders find & hire great people (on a budget). The discussion will cover info on how to design a startup hiring plan, how to create a competitive recruiting & hiring process, and what you need to know about employee compensation & equity.
Peter Pham
As CEO of BillShrink, Peter drives company expansion and is an advocate for customer rights and transparency among service providers. He was previously vice president of business development at Photobucket.com, where he was the fifth employee and was responsible for driving user acquisition, strategic partnerships and corporate development. Photobucket was acquired in 2007 by Fox Interactive Media, a division of News Corporation.
When Peter left in 2008, Photobucket had grown to more than 61M users, making it the #1 photo sharing site and the 38th most visited site in the U.S. Prior to Photobucket, Peter was in the enterprise space for more than 8 years working in sales, marketing, reseller channel development, product and strategy for multiple startups in the fields of mid-range server computing, software as a service, solid state storage and mobilization of enterprise software.
Peter holds a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and a minor in business management from the University of California, Irvine.
Dan Arkind
Dan is a 14 year veteran of the startup recruiting wars. He has filled every role at venture backed startups from employee 0 to 100, including connecting founders with one another. Dan is currently the CEO of JobScore, an online recruiting solution in use by 50+ Bay Area employers. In 2006 Dan co-founded STIRR, an entrepreneur networking group.
If you’d like to attend this event, please apply by sending an email Dan [dot] Martell [at] gmail [dot] com, providing a short bio and links to any online profiles for review.
Posted October 19th, 2009 By gadjos
Last nights dinner proved to be one of the most information packed events thus far. With amazing presentations by Joey Tran (Fortis) and Yokum Taku (WSGR – www.startupcompanylawyer.com), as well as a great panel discussion with both speakers and Anthony McCusker (Gunderson Dettmer, who also bares a slight resemblance to Jim Carrey ), everyone attending left with elite skills in regards to understanding the elements involved in setting up the proper legal structure for their startup.
Major Take Aways
- Don’t forget to file your 83(b) election
- Learn how to dance the “Option Pool Shuffle”
- Have a hiring plan!
- Difference between Restricted Stock, ISO’s and NSO’s
- Section 409A – Understand it.
- Have great record keeping (paperwork)
Presentations
Thanks again to all our sponsors; Founders Fund, Gunderson Dettmer, Google Ventures and to all the entrepreneurs who made it out last night!
Posted August 27th, 2009 By gadjos
Finance4Founders is pleased to announce its upcoming dinner event titled Startup Stock Options: How Not to Get Screwed Over by your Investors, Lawyers, Co-Founders, or Team, to take place on August 26, 2009 at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco.
We look forward to discussing everything you ever wanted to know about how to setup, grant, allocate, vest, exercise, and sell startup company stock options for you and your co-founders, management team, key employees, rank & file, advisors, and anyone else who gives a damn.
This session will cover setting up stock options for founders, an option pool for your employees, how to structure vesting, how to price and exercise options, how to negotiate with investors and advisors, and everything else you ever wanted to know about stock options but were afraid to ask.
Speakers
This time around, we’re delighted to present three new speakers; , Yokum Taku of Wilson, Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Joey Tran who is general counsel at Fortis General Counsel and Anthony J. McCusker of Gunderson Dettmer who is being joined in the event by his colleagues David Van Horne, Josh Cook, and Mike Irvine – all of who can effectively communicate their experience and the Gunderson approach to protecting entrepreneurs and structuring successful deals in the current environment.
Yokum Taku
Yoichiro (”Yokum”) Taku is a corporate and securities partner in the Palo Alto, California office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
WSGR represents:
• more than 20% of the companies receiving venture financing each year;
• more U.S. companies in their initial public offerings than any other law firm worldwide; and
• more technology companies in mergers and acquisitions than any other U.S. law firm.
Yokum represents technology and growth companies at all stages of development, through private financings, strategic transactions, public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. He also represents investors in venture capital financings. Yokum advises numerous entrepreneurs from initial company formation to liquidity event. At any time, he typically represents several startup companies seeking venture financing, private companies that have received financing, and publicly traded companies.
In 2008 and 2009, Yokum has been incorporating a lot of new startup companies, many of which have completed angel or venture financings.
Joey Tran
Joey Tran’s practice focuses on outsourced general counsel services, with an emphasis on the general representation of emerging growth companies in all stages of maturity. Joey has represented a wide variety of companies – ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies – and in many industries – ranging from technology companies to Web 2.0 companies to life sciences companies.
Joey has handled all matters of corporate representation, including venture capital and debt financing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and strategic counseling, IP/technology licensing and commercial agreements. Joey has structured, managed and led both venture capital equity financings and convertible debt financings with an aggregate value of over $230,000,000. He has facilitated mergers, acquisitions and asset purchase transactions with an aggregate value of over $740,000,000 between both private and public companies.
Prior to joining Fortis General Counsel, Joey practiced law in the Palo Alto offices of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP where he was responsible for closing numerous venture capital and debt financings and merger and acquisition transactions. Prior to his legal career, Joey worked in the biotechnology industry as a clinical research associate for both a medical device company and a contract research organization located in the Silicon Valley.
Anthony J. McCusker
ANTHONY is a partner in Gunderson Dettmer’s Corporate and Securities and Venture Fund Formation Groups. He has been with the firm since 1996 and is resident in the Silicon Valley office. Anthony specializes in all areas of corporate, securities and partnership laws, with a primary focus on the formation and financing of emerging growth companies and venture capital funds. His representation of companies spans the entire corporate life-cycle, including pre-incorporation planning, general corporate representation and counseling, venture capital financings, public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. Anthony also works with venture capital firms, representing them both in private financings and in the formation of their funds, as well as with investment banks involved in public and private stock offerings.
Anthony holds a J.D. from Hastings College of the Law at the University of California. He also received a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley. Anthony is admitted to practice in California.
Anthony is a partner in Gunderson Dettmer’s Corporate and Securities and Venture Fund Formation Groups. He has been with the firm since 1996 and is resident in the Silicon Valley office. Anthony specializes in all areas of corporate, securities and partnership laws, with a primary focus on the formation and financing of emerging growth companies and venture capital funds. His representation of companies spans the entire corporate life-cycle, including pre-incorporation planning, general corporate representation and counseling, venture capital financings, public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. Anthony also works with venture capital firms, representing them both in private financings and in the formation of their funds, as well as with investment banks involved in public and private stock offerings. Anthony holds a J.D. from Hastings College of the Law at the University of California. He also received a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.
If you’d like to attend this event, please apply by sending an email Dan [dot] Martell [at] gmail [dot] com, providing a short bio and links to any online profiles for review.
Posted August 11th, 2009 By gadjos
Photo by Bootstrap Chronicles
Finance4Founders was delighted to host over 70 people who attended an evening of discussion and collaboration with special guests Naval Ravikant co-founder of the Venture Hacks blog and Justin Fishner-Wolfson a principal of Founders Fund last June 18th.
Dan Martell and Dave Mclure, opened up the evening with introductions and a quick recap of their adventures on their recent Geeks on A Plane East Asian tour.
Dan and Dave briefly recalled a funny incident involving a quarantine to one of their co-participants. Quarantines aside, Geeks on a A Plane was a successful and informative jaunt into the technology capitals of Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai to explore pro-investment and pro-entrepreneur initiatives for the future.
Next was Justin Fishner-Wolfson’s presentation titled “Build A Company for the Long term- Control Your Own Destiny.” The presentation focused on the current funding climate, insights on lower valuation trends as well as useful management strategies and solutions. You can view Justin’s presentation slides below.
Naval Ravikant was up next and discussed “10 Unconditional Wisdoms,” for hacking ventures. Naval explained how valuation is temporary but control is forever and the benefit of negotiating from power as well as how business plans are not the end-all and be-all of startups. Naval’s slide presentation can be viewed below.
Tweets and feedback from the event gave those who missed it an idea of the proceedings. Below is a sampling of the enthusiastic reactions to the event.
“@Evan_suit_kiva_4_normal evbart Naval from venture hacks is killing it at #f4f great, honest advice for entrepreneurs bout being scrappy from UberTwitter.”
“@Profilepic_normal vsodera #f4f #fin4founders If you’re raising money, ask for advice (money will cone to you). If you ask for money, you’ll just get advice. from Twitterrific.”
“@Sxsw_pic_normal Pietari As a former valley corporate attorney it’s very interesting to hear Founders Fund’s perspective on vc financing terms #f4f from Tweetie.”
“Money_normal Fin4Founders RT @strappy1: Schmoozing 4 Dollars: Brief summary of great #f4f event. http://bit.ly/QC3Gs Thx @davemcclure @danmartell & all participants! from HootSuite.”
“normal rfop #f4f THIS is how to do an event dinner! from mobile web.”
“ deantak -finance4founders dinner was a very good event this evening. from web.”
Finance4Founders would like to thank everyone that participated and attended the event. Special thanks to our sponsors FoundersFund , Gunderson Dettmer and Google Ventures for their paramount support of our efforts.
We would also like to give special thanks to our media partners Venture Hacks and Venture Beat for their assistance.
Posted June 23rd, 2009 By gadjos
Finance4Founders is pleased to announce that we have invited Naval Ravikant co-founder of the Venture Hacks blog and Justin Fishner-Wolfson a principal of Founders Fund as our guest speakers for the June 18th event.
Ravikant and Fishner-Wolfson will talk about what they look for in startups, their take on social networks as well as the challenges of raising money in today’s economic landscape.
Naval Ravikant - Founder and contributor of Venture Hacks blog
Naval Ravikant is an experienced entrepreneur and startup investor and co-founder of the Venture Hacks blog where he also contributes.
Naval is currently an active investor in early-stage e-commerce and social media startups via his angel fund The Hit Forge. His areas of expertise include viral marketing, SEO, monetization, general management and specifically fundraising.
Naval was a co-founder or investor with:
• Genoa Corp (acquired by Finisar)
• Epinions.com (IPO via Shopping.com)
• Chainn
• Hive7
• Vast.com
He is an advisor to Bix.com, iPivot, and XFire and graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Computer Science and Economics.
Justin Fishner-Wolfson: Principal at Founders Fund
Justin Fishner-Wolfson recently guided the Founders Fund’s diligence process for SpaceX, the first private company to develop a liquid-fueled rocket to achieve Earth orbit; the Social Gaming Network (SGN), a company dedicated to building social games across mobile and web platforms; and Inigral, a start-up focused on education and course management software.
Prior to Founders Fund, Fishner-Wolfson was CEO of Stanford Student Enterprises (SSE), a conglomerate of student entrepreneurs at Stanford University. He led SSE to the largest expansion of revenue and profitability in the organization’s history.
He was also Director of Sales at Cellfire, a mobile promotional marketing service, and worked as engineer at Raytheon/Texas Instruments.
Fishner-Wolfson previously served under Alan Larson, the Undersecretary for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs at the State Department. He currently sits on the boards of Adorn, Clickable, Inigral, and SGN, and remains Chairman of SSE.
Justin Fishner-Wolfson holds a MS in Computer Science and a Bachelor’s Degree with Honors in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
Posted May 22nd, 2009 By gadjos
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Posted May 10th, 2009 By admin