Startup Basics

Most first-time founders pick an “authorized shares” number because they saw it in a template, or a friend said “just do 10 million.” Then, months later, they hit a weird problem: their cap table looks messy, their option pool math gets harder than it should, or they’re stuck paying extra fees in some states because […]

Most startup fights do not start with the product. They start with the cap table. Who owns what. Who can leave. Who stays. What happens if the co-founder who built the first version walks away six months in. What happens if a key hire quits right before a fundraise. And what happens if an investor

Most technical founders can explain their model in five minutes. But ask them, “How big is your ESOP pool, and who controls it?” and things get quiet. That is normal. ESOP pools feel like “HR stuff.” In truth, they are a core part of your funding plan. They change your cap table, your control, your

Before we talk numbers, let’s talk about the mistake almost every technical founder makes with advisors. They treat advisor equity like a thank-you gift. A “you helped me, so here’s a slice” kind of thing. But advisor equity is not a gift. It is a business deal. And like any deal, the terms you set

Setting up founder stock should be one of the simplest parts of starting a company. It is not. It often becomes the first “silent disaster” that follows a startup for years. Not because the founders did anything evil. Usually it happens because smart people move fast, copy a template, sign something they do not fully

Splitting equity is one of the first “real” decisions a founding team makes. It feels simple at first: two people, one idea, let’s be fair. But once one founder writes the code and the other founder does everything else, the word “fair” gets messy fast. This is even more true in robotics, AI, and deep

If you are building a startup with one or more co-founders, you are not just building a product. You are also building a small government. Someone gets to make calls. Someone gets to approve big moves. Someone can block a decision even when everyone else is excited. That “government” is shaped by two things: the

Most founder fights do not start with ego. They start with silence. Two smart people build fast for a few months. Decisions happen in the moment. One person “just handles” hiring. The other “just handles” product. It feels smooth… until the company gets real traction, real stress, and real money on the line. Then a

A side project can be a joy. It can also be a slow leak that drains trust, time, and ownership from the startup you are trying to build. Most founder problems are not about bad intent. They are about fuzzy lines. A founder builds a small tool on a weekend. A friend asks for help.

Most founders think fundraising starts when you open a pitch deck. It doesn’t. Fundraising starts weeks earlier, when you set your company up so an investor can say “yes” fast, without fear, and without doing mental gymnastics to understand what you do. This article is your setup checklist. Not the fluffy kind. The kind that