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6 strategies to hiring for startups Hiring your first employees not only sets the tone for your company culture but also has a direct impact on business success and outcomes, which is why having a world class hiring strategy for early-stage startups is crucial. Below we’ll cover the following topics to help you hire and attract top talent: How to set a strategy to attract top talent What to key traits you should look for in your first hires Identifying whether a candidate has the right hard and soft skills Leveraging onboarding to not only ramp but retain talent Additional resources to help with your recruiting efforts Check out how Malcolm Burenstam Linder, CEO and Co-Founder of Alva Labs, suggests that founders approach hiring their first employees below: Attract Top Talent Through Storytelling This should start at the candidate’s first touchpoint with your company, such as the careers page and job description. Crafting a story around why anyone should want to join your company should go beyond just the mission and vision, to feel more personal than what you might share with your customers or stakeholders. In the interview you can go even deeper and share why you specifically joined or started the company. Try to speak to the points which you think would personally resonate most with the candidate you’re interviewing. Many startups are unable to be competitive in salary compared to other major players, but the key is to find the unique things within your company that you can leverage such as an inspiring mission or being a part of something bound to have success. This can be even more exciting and convincing than a larger paycheck. Other things to highlight as one of the perks of joining early could be job advancement and stock options. “Selling the vision. Selling the idea that their stock would be worth so much. Selling myself as an amazing leader that they definitely wanted to work with. Just being authentic. Helping them understand why I was doing what I was doing. Why I was passionate about it and why I would be a good human being for them to work with and call their colleague.” Source Plan For and Attract Diverse Candidates Having diversity within your team is only possible if you’re presenting your company in a way that attracts a wide range of profiles. Creating a diverse funnel requires you to craft your job descriptions and careers page in a way where the message, language, and images you choose speaks to a broader spectrum of candidates. Think through and analyze how your employees are being represented on your website, as well as if your perks and benefits are inclusive to the needs of all potential candidates regarding gender, sexual orientation, race, social class and background. Hiring From Your Network Social media (such as twitter and LinkedIn) is one way to leverage your personal network for trusted referrals. This can be a great resource when it comes to recruiting- especially when you have limited resources such as access to an inhouse or external recruiter. Often some of the best candidates are referrals, since you have more insight to how they work and there is already a certain level of trust and comfort established. Something to be aware of when sourcing this way is that you continue to keep diversity top of mind. Hiring For a Fluid Organizational Structure and Changing Roles Your company and organizational structure will likely be continuously changing, which is why it’s often advisable to only hire for the next 6-12 months rather than having a long term solution mindset. Future proof roles by filling them with people who will be able to handle your current needs but are also able and willing to be flexible with new tasks and responsibilities, as the needs of the company change. This will make pivots and experimenting with new ideas and projects easier. It is important to communicate this in the interview process to make sure that the candidate is prepared and hopefully excited by potential change. For those who haven’t worked in early-stage startups before, it’s good for them to know that this is normal for companies who grow quickly and is a sign of success, which provides a lot of opportunities for them to grow within and advance professionally. Contract to Hire vs Project to Hire or Part-time Hiring employees full time doesn’t need to be your only option, especially early on when your resources can be limited. Other options include Project to Hire and Part- Time employees. If you only have a few one-off projects that you don’t want to add to the workload of your existing employees or hire full-time for, consider contracting other experts in the space. Even though this option might seem more costly than completing these tasks internally- it could actually save you in the long run and lead to better outcomes. For example if someone on your team had to learn a new process or skill set to complete this task, it would cost you more in the additional time it would take for them than someone with previous know how. Good resources for hiring contracted professionals are through websites such as Upwork and fiverr. Interviewing Having a formal interview process will not only benefit you but is important for your candidates as well. Start by writing clear, transparent, personable, and honest job descriptions. Know what you’re looking for- What are the must haves, important/ nice to haves, and bonus points. Don’t go at it alone- Try to involve more team members, especially the ones who will be working directly with the applicant. 7 things to look for in your first hire High Pain Tolerance and Grit Working in a startup means there’s a lot of experimentation that includes failing, breaking things, and shots in the dark that need to happen until you can find solutions that work. This requires being risk averse and not fearing failure, but rather welcoming it (when needed) and seeing it as an opportunity that will lead you to succeed and solve problems. When failure occurs your ideal candidate would quickly recover from these situations, get back up, course correct, and keep running with their new learnings top of mind. Look for someone who also wants to embrace or likes the start up company culture, which can have a lot of ups and downs. They should also be comfortable without having clear rules or ways of doing things and are ok to have the power to create these for the company as they go. Cultural Fit When deciding between candidates think- who would I rather be stuck in the car with? Your first hires are the ones you will likely be working with most closely and want to be onboard for a while. This means how well you get along with them vs how competent they are should be equally important. Attitude Having a positive attitude is everything. A negative person on board can bring an entire team down and is something you don’t want your customers to associate your company with. Positivity is something that people inherently have or not. It’s not anything you can force upon, so it’s a perk to have someone whose common nature is to see situations in an optimistic light. This is also an important attribute for creative problem solving. Entrepreneurial Mindset Having employees that want/ are capable of growing your company and scaling internal processes can provide value in the short and long term. Candidates with this mindset will often take more ownership of their projects and have an intrinsic drive to see the company succeed. To help them maximize their potential it’s important for the executive team to give trust and the freedom to drive their set initiatives forward. Generalists & Potential > Skill Set Having generalists on your team is crucial since working in a startup often means there’s a lot of work to be done with not much resources. So it’s advantageous to have people who are not only comfortable with but excited by the idea of wearing multiple hats. As well, finding someone who has the desire to learn and confidence to execute is more important than having prior knowledge and experience in a given area. In a company of 10 people, each will have to take on projects outside of their realm of expertise. Look for candidates who are looking to learn from others and are capable of finding the needed resources to do this- internally and externally. Hiring Candidates with Leadership Potential Often your first hires will end up being your longest employees and will likely have the most knowledge about your product/ company. This makes them a natural fit to develop into a team lead in their division, or even a possible cofounder, as the company grows. Look for attributes which would lend to good leadership such as a high EQ/ empathy, communication skills, decisiveness, and creativity. Another thing to look out for is the ability for the candidate to scale the company to where you want to be in the future. Open to Feedback and Self Improvement Situations and how we interact with one another can only improve when we are upfront with our expectations and clearly communicate this. Look for candidates who not only embrace feedback but want it. If people are defensive or have a hard time communicating what needs to be changed or done, it’s harder to move towards positive outcomes. Encourage a company culture which values clear, transparent, and empathetic communication. Suggest your employees to read Radical Candor to help with this. How to hire your first 10 startup employees Various roles require different skill sets and personality traits to help the candidate succeed. For instance someone working for a startup in a customer facing position will often encounter people telling them no, not respond to their emails, or have to endure negative product feedback. So you’ll want someone who is able to put out fires and keep pushing forward with the same motivation they had before their first no. Look out for those who can own their mistakes as well as know when and how to apologize. These traits can help customers empathize and move forward from a given problem. A great way to test for how well a candidate in a given role might approach a problem or topic is through Work Product Interviews. By choosing a current project you’re able to see how each candidate would approach it and give you additional brainpower to work through it. When choosing this approach it’s advisable to pay candidates for their time. If you’re not willing to pay it is best to choose a project that will not be used as a best practice. Related resource: 9 Signs It’s Time To Hire in a Startup Leadership When hiring the earliest leaders for your startup it is vital to be diligent during the interview process. These early leaders will set the tone for the culture and future hires at your organization. On top of being a culture fit, you will want to ensure they are capable of scaling their business unit and being a sounding board for making strategic decisions. Product Generally speaking the founder or CEO acts as the “product person” initially at a startup. As the company and product begin to mature, it is time to bring on product leaders and individuals to help take the product to next level. As with any of your first 10 hires you will want to make sure a product leader can work autonomously. As your time turns to supporting other parts of the organization, being able to have a product leader to lean on is essential. Sales, Customer Success, and Marketing Hiring for the business units begins to pickup after making your core hires. To learn more about hiring for customer success team members, check out our guide here. To learn more about making your first sales hires, check out this post. Onboarding Tips to Ensure They Stay A factor to consider if people aren’t succeeding in their role is a lack of active feedback and/ or clear expectations. They might not realize that the work they are producing isn’t meeting your standards if there is no clear and structured communication as well as KPI’s or goals set forth. Make sure to include opportunities for active and regular feedback loops during their onboarding in the first few months. This will help shape the work they produce, how well they adjust to organizational needs, and give them assurance of where they stand. If you need to let someone go or if an employee isn’t satisfied- it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Having a Well Defined Training Plan During Onboarding Setting clear expectations for the role- What are their responsibilities and what might you expect them to achieve and execute on. Goal setting- Setting weekly goals for the first 3 weeks and then monthly for the first 3 months is a good way to start. Giving ownership- Allowing someone to feel they have ownership gives them the motivation to take on responsibility and demonstrates trust. The Buddy System Being a new employee within a company, no matter how small it is, can feel daunting and sometimes isolating. Pairing new hires with an existing team member creates new social connections amongst your employees. This also helps with cross functional team work as well as employee happiness. New hires should feel they can not only turn to their buddy for questions but is also someone they can have a (virtual) lunch or coffee with. This is also an opportunity for them to be filled in on company culture and other things that might not have been covered in the initial onboarding. Startup Hiring Resources Background checks The things you might want to check for could vary on the role and the company. Besides calling, emailing or checking LinkedIn references, you could also use online background checks such as ClearChecks.com Sourcing Services vs. Recruiters Without having someone dedicated to HR it can be difficult to source talent which is why using websites that give you access to a curated pool of talent can be a good option. Owning recruiting for your 25+ hires, although difficult, is actually important as it allows you to shape your company culture which is created through the personality traits and profiles of your first employees. Possible websites to source tech talent in which you can apply to candidates directly are Hired.com, Talent.io, or Honeypot.io. Recruiting Software Breezy.hr is a great example of an end-to-end recruiting software that can help to manage things like sourcing, candidate pipeline, streamlining communication and interview scheduling. At the end of the day startups are in a constant competition for top talent. By having a system in place to source, interview, hire, onboard, and retain employees your odds of success as a company will be higher. To learn more about hiring for your startup, check out our related posts here. Related resources: The Top 9 Social Media Startups Why the Chief of Staff is Important for a Startup

Raise capital, update investors and engage your team from a single platform. Try Visible free for 14 days. With the continued surge to work-from-home, companies all over the world are becoming more dependent on cloud-based and collaborative services such as Slack, Zoom, Notion, and more. Where there is business, there is capital. Below, we list out security-focused VC firms to keep an eye out for. ForgePoint Capital ForgePoint Capital is founded by pioneers of cybersecurity. Led by Alberto Yepez, Donald Dixon, and Sean Cunningham, ForgePoint has been early-stage investing since 1998 and made over 50 investments in the space. They offer some thoughts and insight into their take on cybersecurity throughout their blog. Investment location: United States, Australia, Canada, Global Funding stages: Series A, Series B, Series C Notable investments: RapidFort, Instabug, TruEra Dreamit Ventures Dreamit Ventures looks to help startups with their Securetech program. Throughout this, their focus is on scaling, customers, and capital, not on building your product. Mel Shakir stands as the Managing Director of Dreamit’s Securetech sector. Investment location: United States, Global Funding stages: Accelerator, Seed, Series A, Series B, Growth Notable investments: Fohlio, CareAlign, SpecTrust Option 3 Ventures Option 3 Ventures finds and develops attractive investment opportunities at the frontiers of cybersecurity and immediately adjacent technologies. They have a robust venture capital team, led by Manish Thakur. Investment location: United States Funding stages: Series A, Series B Notable investments: Dellfer TenEleven Ventures TenEleven Ventures is solely focused on helping cybersecurity companies survive and thrive. They look to provide counsel, capital, and connections to security entrepreneurs. The Boston-based firm is led by Alex Doll and Max Hatfield. Investment location: Global Funding stages: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth Notable investments: HiddenLayer, Immuta, Ordr Allegis Cyber Capital AllegisCyber Capital does one thing: cybersecurity. Cybersecurity takes industry knowledge and AllegisCyber has many years of investing experience, led by Bob Ackerman. Investment location: Global Funding stages: Seed, Series A, Series B Notable investments: Dragos, SkyHive, SafeGuard Cyber Paladin Capital Group Paladin Capital Group is comprised of active investors who leverage their deep industry experience and networks to maximize returns. They are a DC-based team led by Michael Steed, Mark Maloney, and more. Investment location: Global Funding stages: Series A, Series B Notable investments: GreyNoise, Nisos, Semperis Acrew Capital Acrew Capital is a venture capital firm that provides investable assets for diverse angel investors to fund tomorrow’s companies. Investment location: Global Funding stages: Seed, Series A, Series B, Growth Notable investments: Arthur, Carats & Cake, Pie Insurance Greylock Partners This venture capital firm invests in all stages, exclusively in consumer and enterprise software companies. It led the Series B round for both Facebook and Linkedin. Investment location: Global Funding stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Growth Notable investments: Facebook, LinkedIn Kleiner Perkins Kleiner Perkins is a venture capital firm specializing in investing in early-stage, incubation, and growth companies. Investment location: Global Funding stages: Series A, Series B, Growth Notable investments: SpinLaunch, Lumafield, Open Raven Lightspeed Venture Partners Lightspeed Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that is engaged in the consumer, enterprise, technology, and cleantech markets. Investment location: United States, China, India, Israel Funding stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Growth Notable investments: Remedial Health, Soda Health, Community Labs Related Resource: 9 Active Venture Capital Firms in Israel Bessemer Venture Partners Bessemer Venture Partners is the world’s most experienced early-stage venture capital firm. With a portfolio of more than 200 companies, Bessemer helps visionary entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to create companies that matter, and supports them through every stage of their growth. Investment location: United States, Bay Area Funding stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B Notable investments: LinkedIn, Shopify, Yelp SixThirty SixThirty focuses on Fintech, Insurtech, and Cybertech. They are a fast-moving company that evaluates over 500 companies per year. SixThirty invests in companies that have a working product, market traction, and in most instances, recurring revenue. Investment location: Global Funding stages: Seed, Series A Notable investments: Global NightDragon NightDragon brings 25+ years of industry operating experience and market expertise to our portfolio companies. They work hand in hand with management to help scale their business and execute their strategic vision to drive successful outcomes. Investment location: Global Funding stages: Series B Notable investments: Immuta, Source Defense, Capella Space Security Leadership Capital Security Leadership Capital seeks to partner with a wide range of what would be considered “standalone” cybersecurity companies as well as other sectors that require a strong cybersecurity foundation to differentiate their offering, e.g. fintech, healthcare IT, blockchain, and cloud/datacenter infrastructure. Investment location: United States Funding stages: Seed Notable investments: DeepFactor Lytical Ventures Lytical Ventures is a New York City-based venture firm investing in Corporate Intelligence, comprising cybersecurity, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. Lytical’s professionals have decades of experience in direct investing generally and in Corporate Intelligence specifically. Investment location: United States Funding stages: Seed, Series A Notable investments: Careviso, Clausematch, Bold Metrics Get Connected to Cybersecurity VCs with Visible Finding the right investors for your business is only half the battle. Having a place to communicate with investors and track the progress of your raise allows you to spend more time on what matters most — building your business. Find the right investors with Visible Connect, track your conversations with our Fundraising CRM, share your pitch deck with investors, and update them along the way all from one platform. Give Visible a free try for 14 days here. Looking to learn more about fundraising? Check out some of our popular resources below: FinTech Venture Capital Investors to Know VCs Investing In Food & Bev Startups A Quick Overview on VC Fund Structure

On episode 11 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Lolita Taub of Community Fund and Eric Bahn of Hustle Fund. Eric and Lolita recently launched The First Pitches Podcast “where famous founders share the first version of their pitch.” Combined with the fact that they are both investors in early stage startups it is fair to say they’ve seen their fair share of fundraising pitches. We could not think of a better one-two punch to help founders improve their storytelling and fundraising. About Lolita & Eric Lolita and Eric breakdown what they’ve learned from their podcast and investor roles to give founders actionable advice to kick start their next fundraise. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Lolita & Eric. You can give the full episode a listen below (or in any of your favorite podcast apps). What You Can Expect to Learn from Lolita & Eric The importance of Twitter when it comes to networking and fundraising If a founder has to be an expert in a subject for them to be funded How to nail a first impression with investors How they view and analyze a deck in the pre-seed/seed stages What makes a great first pitch Why they care about what metrics a founder is measuring Related Resources First Pitches Podcast Lolita’s Twitter Eric’s Twitter Hustle Fund Community Fund The Founders Forward is Produced by Visible Our platforms helps thousands of founders update investors, track key metrics, and raise capital. Try Visible free for 14 days.

Startups are in a constant competition for two resources — capital and talent. Building a system to properly scale your business while maintaining your company culture is vital to a startup’s success. We figured there would be no better person to join us for a webinar to chat all things hiring and scaling than Julia Kauffman. Julia started her career in enterprise and eventually made the transition to High Alpha and is currently the VP of People & Admin at Mandolin. If there is one person who knows what it takes to properly scale the headcount at an early-stage startup, it’s Julia. Check out the recording and our favorite takeaways below: A couple of quick highlights from the webinar: Contract for Hire When hiring at the early stage it is crucial that you make hires that are “athletes” and can flex to any role while fitting in with your team and culture. Julia personally uses a contract with potential employees. This means that she offers short term contract (usually 30 days) to see how a potential employees fits with the team and culture then goes on to make a full time offer. Ongoing Development When scaling headcount it is important to have a standard onboarding process for new employees. Julia likes to use ongoing training and development to help employees find success. One of the things Julia recommends is a regular competitive analysis. In short, the team takes a lot at their competition so they have a solid understand of the business and the market. This can be done at the individual or team level. Julia also likes to leverage 1 on 1s to help with ongoing development. On a weekly basis Julia sits down and talks for 30 minutes with employees to talk about anything they’d like. This can be work, blockers, projects, anything they’d like, etc. On a quarterly basis Julia blocks an hour with employees to talk about personal development and their job so they know they have time to talk about it and their personal development. Mission, Vision, and Values Maintaining your startup culture as you scale can be difficult. Having your mission, vision, and values in place is essential as you hire and bring on new employees. When asked how companies should define their initial values, Julia recommends surveying everyone in the organization on what their values are, then you can pass those on to the leadership team to pick the ones that will be used at the core of decision making for the company. Sourcing Candidates Outside of job boards there are some interesting ways to source new candidates. Julia suggests checking out communities and different groups. Get in the habit of networking and engaging with different communities to source candidates from new and qualified places. Another source can be partners and organizations you are already working with. If done right and respectfully, this can tap into an entirely new network and candidate pool. Talking Equity Equity can be an integral part of attracting and retaining top talent. However, there can be confusion and questions surrounding equity. There are differing views on how to handle discussing and sharing cap table information. Julia believes that you need to (1) explain how and why you give out equity and (2) show employees everything and talk through the details. While it can be difficult to be transparent, most employees will understand and want to work through the details. To stay up-to-date with our future webinars and Founders Forward podcast, sign up for our newsletter below:

On episode 10 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Jim McKelvey, Co-Founder of Square. The now publicly traded company with a $100B+ market cap has humble beginnings dating back to Jim and his time in a glass studio. Jim recently published his book, The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time, that studies how Square managed to thrive and beat Amazon and draws on similar stories from companies like Southwest and Ikea. About Jim Square and Jim used a series of “innovation stacks” to not only beat Amazon but to take them to the high flying public company they are today. Jim has a deep passion for entrepreneurship and innovation that comes across as we discuss his journey building Square. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Jim. You can give the full episode a listen below (or in any of your favorite podcast apps). What You Can Expect to Learn from Jim How the idea for Square was started How Jim started his relationship with Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Square What it means to be an entrepreneur vs. business person What Southwest and Square have in common What an innovation stack is How Jim views venture capital How and why businesses copy Related Resources Jim’s Twitter Jim’s LinkedIn The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time

In 2020 we launched the Founders Forward Podcast. The goal of the podcast is to enable founders to learn from their peers and leaders that have been there before. Over the last 7 weeks our CEO, Mike Preuss, has interviewed a different founder or startup leader every week. Related Resource: 11 Venture Capital Podcasts You Need to Check Out Here are some of our favorite quotes and takeaways from the first 7 interviews: Lindsay Tjepkema, Founder of Casted Our first episode of the Founders Forward was with Lindsay Tjepkema. Considering she is a podcasting expert, we figured there could not be a better first guest. We chat all things podcasting and alternative media types. However one of the tidbits we found most interesting was Lindsay’s outlook on venture fundraising. Oftentimes fundraising can be a frustrating journey but Lindsay views the process as an opportunity to promote her business and tell her company’s story. Give the full episode a listen here. Amanda Goetz, Founder of House of Wise House of Wise is Amanda’s second go as a startup founder. However things are no less difficult than her first time around. Her first journey was spent worrying about legal aspects and the basics of getting her business running. That was easy with House of Wise but she has faced new challenges (and opportunities) during her second journey. Give the full episode a listen here. Jeff Kahn, Founder of Rise Science Jeff has 10 years of sleep science experience and research. Before starting Rise Science Jeff spent time publishing academic articles and supporting world-class athletes and teams with better sleep. Jeff Kahn is a true expert in all things sleep. During our interview with Jeff, we chatted about how sleep can improve a founder’s leadership skills and productivity. Give the full episode a listen here. Aishetu Dozie, Founder of Bossy Cosmetics Aishetu Dozie started her career in banking and eventually made the transition to starting a cosmetics company. Just like any founder, her first time journey has been full of highs and lows. Aishetu, like many founders and leaders, has struggled with imposter syndrome. We love her thoughts below on how she has tackled imposter syndrome. Give the full episode a listen here. Kyle Poyar, Partner at OpenView Ventures OpenView Ventures is credited with coining the term “Product-Led Growth.” As Kyle and the team at OpenView continue to help SaaS companies grow and become market leaders he has seen it all. From the early days of defining PLG and the impact of COVID-19 Kyle is full of first-hand stories and the data to back it up. Check out how Kyle defines and thinks about PLG below. Give the full episode a listen here. Yin Wu, Founder of Pulley Yin Wu has been through Y Combinator 3 times and has successfully exited 2 companies. Over the course of her founder journey it is safe to say that she has spent a good amount of time fundraising and chatting with investors. Yin likes to bucket investors into 3 categories to structure who she should be chatting with and raising from. Give the full episode a listen here. Cheryl Campos, Head of Venture Growth at Republic Over the past 3 years, the funding options for startups have continued to transform. Over her 3 years at Republic, Cheryl has watched as the market has changed and crowdfunding has become a more viable option. Check out Cheryl’s thoughts on the new funding options below. Give the full episode a listen here. We have plenty of new episodes recorded and ready to share in 2021.

On episode 9 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Don Brown, Founder and CEO of LifeOmic. Prior to starting LifeOmic, Don started 6 companies with his first being acquired by GM in 1986 and his most recent, Interactive Intelligence, being acquired for $1.4B in 2016. Since the acquisition Don has turned to his passion of medicine and the medical field by founding LifeOmic (and LIFE Apps). LifeOmic is a single platform that “activates precision health and wellness.” About Don Even though Don has started 6 companies he might actually have more knowledge in intermittent fasting and health. Through his studies at John Hopkins and the introduction of the LIFE Fasting Tracking, Don has become a true expert on all things fasting. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Don. You can give the full episode a listen below (or in any of your favorite podcast apps). What You Can Expect to Learn from Don What he learned from starting 6 companies What he learned from navigating the dot-com bust, the Great Recession, and COVID-19. The importance of knowing the job to be done Why intermittent fasting isn’t just “another diet craze” Why intermittent stresses are good for your body The benefits of intermittent fasting How you should think about setting up a fasting schedule Related Resources Don’s Twitter Don’s LinkedIn LIFE Apps The LIFE Fasting Tracker The Founders Forward is Produced by Visible Our platforms helps thousands of founders update investors, track key metrics, and raise capital. Try Visible free for 14 days.

What is a cap table (i.e. capitalization table)? “Cap Tables” or capitalization tables are a critical term to understand for any startup founder or aspiring founder. But what is a cap table and why is it important? At the core, a capitalization or cap table is a table or spreadsheet that lays out the equity capitalization for the company. The equity capitalization is the total value of all the shares of the company and the breakdown of how those shares are divided. A cap table is an intricate breakdown of the shares value, holders, and projections. The cap table typically includes specifics of a company’s equity ownership capital such as common and preferred equity shares, warrants, and any convertible equity. Why is a cap table important for startups? Cap tables are important for startups for a variety of reasons. It is fundamental for a founder to understand the full scope of a cap table and why they are so important to execute. Cap tables are important because overall they illustrate the health of a startup for investors. Ownership Breakdown Founders need to be aware at all times of what their cap table means for ownership of their company. Understanding ownership is critical as the company grows and develops. Cap tables tell investors who owns what part of a company. Current investors want to see who has control. They also want the ability to forecast potential payouts and dilution under specific scenarios based on the ownership split. The breakdown of ownership in a startup can overall affect the value of the company for future fundraising rounds as well as who needs to be at the table for certain critical company decisions. Related Resource: How to Fairly Split Startup Equity with Founders Understanding Contributed Equity: A Key to Startup Financing Value Tracking An up-to-date and detailed cap table is important for tracking the value of a startup over time. Beyond current investors and founders understanding the value of a growing startup, employees find cap tables useful as well. A detailed, well-kept cap table is helpful for employees to access if they have options or equity stakes in the startup they work for. Offering equity is an appealing way to draw in top talent at leading startups. The ability to track value real-time by viewing a cap table is an important component of the value of a cap table. Fundraising In addition to current investors utilizing a cap table for forecasting and dilution predictions for different outcomes on their investments, potential investors and future fundraising can also be affected by cap tables. Potential investors can evaluate how much control and leverage could be maintained during negotiations by viewing a cap table. Historical insight provided in a cap table can affect negotiating current valuation for new funding raises. Additionally, an existing shareholder can easily determine what percentage of the company to give to the new investors in exchange for the capital contributed. Potential Audits In the event of an audit on a startup, a well-managed cap can allow your legal team to present your company’s history and holdings with accurate and well-organized information via a cap table. In general, a well-organized and well-maintained cap table is critical for the health and growth of a company across all financial situations. What does a cap table look like? Cap Tables are built out on two axis’. Typically, cap tables include a list of names or groups associated with the startup including founders, investors and common share stakeholders along one of the axis. Along the other axis the items that the various stakeholders and owners own. These items include things like types of securities, how many of these securities they own, when they invested in the company, and the percentage of company owned. Carta provides a good example of a Cap Table below: How do you make a cap table? Cap tables can be created and managed in a variety of ways. Typically it is common for new startup founders to build their initial cap table in a spreadsheet. However, as your startup grows and the valuation and stakeholders get more involved and complex, simple cap table design in a program like excel won’t work. Some companies will use a tool, such as CapShare or Carta to build and manage their cap tables. These tools are typically more dynamic and less manual than managing via excel. They can be easier to utilize to share out and circulate with employees and investors. In other scenarios, it might make the most sense to outsource the production and management of a cap table. When founders choose to self-manage their own cap table they are susceptible to risks. Some of these risks include miscalculating valuations which can lead to giving up too much equity and over-diluting shares in new investment rounds. Additionally, there might be tax consequences or legal issues that come up from mis-management of a cap table. By outsourcing the production and management of a cap table. Typically this management is outsourced to a legal team to ensure accuracy and compliance. Outsourcing is more expensive than managing with a software but can be much less expensive the cost of major mistakes or miscalculation of value. How to use a cap table? When using a cap table, it’s important to understand the following formulas: Post-Money Valuation = Pre-Money Valuation + Total Investment Amount Price-Per-Share = Pre-Money Valuation / Pre-Money Shares Post-Money Shares = Post Money Valuation/ Price-Per-Share Investor Percent Ownership = Investor Shares / Post-Money Shares These formulas are essentially what will be laid out in a cap table so understanding them is crucial. These formulas can also be used to update the cap table as it grows more complex via different significant financial rounds. The more investment rounds or other significant financial changes on the table, the more complex the cap table gets. This breakdown essentially showcases the additional steps and participants who are stakeholders in the startup. Founders round – this is the simplest version of the cap table and will typically showcase the simple split of equity between the founders of the company. Seed round – this introduces investors to the table who now own a portion of the company along with the founders and have given cash to the startup altering the overall value. Options pool round – when options are provided for new employees, this changes the value and breakdown of the company as represented by the cap table. Overtime, as more employees are hired and more options are granted, the more complex the cap table gets. VC round(s) – With any additional funding rounds taken on by the startup, the valuation drastically changes as does the list of stakeholders on the cap table. All of these events or rounds are significant and will change the breakdown and complexity of the cap table. How do you keep a cap table updated? With the array of cap table management tools on the market updating and keeping tabs on your cap table is easier than ever before. Generally founders need to stay on top of their cap table management. If you raise a new round, offer new employee grants, terminate an employee, etc. you need to make the changes as soon as possible to avoid future headaches. If you put off updating your cap table in real time it could end up being a costly mistake as you need a lawyer to update and correct the table. We highly recommend using software to manage and update your cap table to make your life as easy as possible. There are countless options but we recommend using Pulley. You can learn more about cap table management (and Pulley) in our Founders Forward Podcast with Pulley CEO and Founder, Yin Wu, here. Cap table examples/templates Instead of starting from scratch, many founders will use a template to build out a cap table. Alexander Jarvis provides an easy cap table template here. S3 Ventures offers a template in Excel that they recommend for their portfolio companies. Manage Your Stakeholders with Visible Manage relationships with your investors and other stakeholders using Visible. Centralize your key data, share updates with investors, and track your interactions with current (and potential) investors all from one place. Learn more and try Visible for free here.

In searching for your investor, every VC seems to have different stipulations and ranges for their check sizes. Many firms will initially write smaller checks to their first-time investments and larger checks to their recurring, portfolio investments. Finding a VC with a check size that fits your need can be difficult. We will segment some of our favorite VCs by typical minimum check size, sweet spot check size, and maximum check size. Related Reading: A Quick Overview on VC Fund Structure Angel Investors: Checks under $30,000 Jonathan Ozeran Jonathan Ozeran serves as an advisor for Great North Labs and is a hands-on investor that has seen many phases of growth. He focuses on several verticals, including AI, Mobile, Biotechnology, Digital Health, Health Care, Hardware, Insurance, and more. Check Size: Min. $10,000 — Sweet Spot $25,000 — Max. $25,000 Lolita Taub Lolita Taub is the Co-Founder and General Partner at The Community Fund where she invests in community-driven companies. She has over 40 investments as an angel and VC. Check Size: Min. $1,000 — Sweet Spot $20,000 — Max. $30,000 Pre-seed/Seed Investors: Checks under $300,000 DC Ventures DC Ventures assists startups in areas crucial to funding and growth. Their team is made of industry experts and savvy investors who help entrepreneurs reach their goals. They are based in Washington D.C., Dublin, and Buenos Aires. Check Size: Min. $10,000 — Max. $100,000 Hustle Fund Hustle Fund is a seed fund for hilariously early hustlers. They are led by Elizabeth Yin and Eric Bahn. Hustle Fund is comfortable setting terms and being the first check. Because of their small check size, they will not be putting in the bulk of money in your round. Check Size: Min. $25,000 — Max. $100,000 (Check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.) Supernode Ventures has an extensive network of contacts providing access to media, customers, and investors to help support. They are based out of NYC and look to add 10-12 companies to their portfolio each year. Check Size: Min. $50,000 — Max. $200,000 Beta Boom Beta Boom invests in underdog founders that don’t fit the typical Silicon Valley founder profile, and they particularly look for founders that have lived their problem and have shown tenacity, hustle, and focus. They don’t care if you went to Stanford or Harvard. Check Size: Min. $150,000 — Sweet Spot $150,000 — Max. $300,000 Checks under $10,000,000 Allos Capital Allos Capital invests in early-stage B2B software and business services companies in the heart of the Midwest. They are managed by Don Aquilano, John McIlwraith, and David Kerr. Allos generally invests within a 5-hour drive of our offices, which are located in Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Check Size: Min. $250,000 — Max. $3,000,000 Cowboy Ventures Cowboy Ventures invests in US-based, software-oriented companies. Their sweet spot is co-leading or leading seed rounds (usually a round of $1-5m). They seek to back exceptional founders who are building products that “re-imagine” work and personal life in large and growing markets. Check Size: Min. $500,000 — Sweet Spot $1-5M — Max. $7,500,000 Fuel Capital Fuel Capital is a California-based early-stage venture fund focused on consumer, SaaS, and cloud infrastructure companies. Their goal is to open doors for founders who have the potential to change the world, and provide them with more value than capital could buy. Check Size: Min. $500,000 — Max. $1,000,000 Second Century Ventures Second Century Ventures is focused on promoting innovation in the real estate industry. SCV prefers SaaS companies generally focused on big data applications, digital media, fintech and business services that can span multiple verticals and geographies. Check Size: Min. $1,000,000 — Max. $5,000,000 .406 Ventures .406 Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in innovative IT and services companies founded by the finest entrepreneurs. They typically are the lead, first institutional investor in early-stage and de novo investments in market-changing IT Security and Infrastructure, Technology-Enabled Business Services, and Next-Generation Software companies. Check Size: Min. $2,000,000 — Max. $6,000,000 Freestyle Capital Freestyle Capital is a seed-stage investor and mentor for Internet software startups. They make just 10-12 investments each year, to support their founders and portfolio companies. Check Size: Min. $1,000,000 — Sweet Spot $1,500,000 — Max. $7,500,000 Checks over $10,000,000 Insight Partners Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Check Size: Min. $10,00,000 — Max. $350,000,000+ Summit Partners Summit Partners invests just about everywhere in the world. They are led by 27 managing directors with an average of 14 years of experience. They ultimately are looking to accelerate growth in companies and achieve very dramatic results. Check Size: Min. $10,00,000 — Max. $500,000,000 Explore thousands of different VCs by their check sizes, geographies, verticals, and more at Visible Connect! Related Resource: How to Find Venture Capital to Fund Your Startup: 5 Methods

What is a restricted stock unit? Restricted Stock Units or RSUs are forms of compensation issued to employees by an employer founder. This compensation is issued in restricted company shares. Shares are restricted because their value is limited by a vesting plan. After a set amount of time laid out in a vesting plan occurs, a certain amount of shares becomes accessible and valuable. RSUs give employees interest in a company but will not be worth their full value until the full vesting period is complete. RSUs will always have value due to their underlying shares. What is a restricted stock award? Restricted Stock Awards or RSA’s are given to the employee on the day they are granted. They do not have to be earned via a vesting schedule like RSUs do. The employee “owns” the stock associated with the RSA on the grant date. However, they may still have to purchase them, depending on the nature of the offer. This purchase contingency is why RSAs are considered “restricted stock”. RSUs vs RSAs for startups Overall, restricted stock in the form of RSUs or RSAs can be a value-add for startups and a great way to incentivize talent employees to join the team. RSUs are not purchased at grant date but instead have a timed vesting period as well as other vesting conditions before they are owned outright. RSAs are purchased on the grant date but still typically have time-based vesting conditions. Unvested RSUs are given up when an employee is terminated and RSAs are available for repurchase when an employee is terminated. RSAs are typically granted to early employees before funding rounds with additional equity payouts and RSUs are typically granted to employees after funding is taken on. What the differences are important to understand RSUs and RSAs are two common terms to understand in the startup landscape. RSU stands for “Restricted Stock Unit” and RSA stands for “Restricted Stock Award”. Understanding the difference is key when building and operating a startup. While both RSUs and RSAs are forms of restricted stock, they are different and serve different purposes. In general, restricted stock is owned from the day it is issued and does not need to be purchased. However, because it is restricted, it needs to be earned. How do restricted stock units work? RSUs became popular in the early 2000s after a variety of executive fraud scandals occurred across the market. With it’s vesting limitations, RSUs have become a popular option for compensating leadership and early employees without the risk of providing full stock upfront. RSUs give an employee interest in company stock but they have no tangible value until vesting is complete and typically vesting plans are staggered so that only a certain percentage of shares vest at a time. For example, if an employee has a 4 year vesting period with a 1 year cliff, they would only walk away with 25% of their promised shares after a year of employment (or none if they leave or are terminated prior). RSUS are also structured with limits in case termination occurs that can override vesting or cliff rules. The restricted stock units are assigned a fair market value when they vest. When RSUs finally vest, they are considered income, and a portion of the shares is withheld to pay income taxes. When the employee receives the remaining shares and can sell them. If an employee is terminated, they keep any of their vested shares but the company can purchase back the unvested shares. Like any potential compensation option, RSUs have pros and cons to their structure and offering. Some Pros of offering RSUs include: Long Term Incentive – because of the standard vesting period of 4 years, generous RSU packages can be helpful in incentivizing top talent to stick around longer, put in more effort to grow the company, to ultimately claim their full offering of stock at the highest possible value. Low-Impact: The admin work and back-end management of RSUs is minimal compared to other, more complicated stock incentive plans. RSUs also allow a company to defer issuing shares until the vesting schedule is complete. This helps delay the dilution of its shares. Related Resource: Everything You Should Know About Diluting Shares Some Cons of offering RSUs include: No Dividends: Because actual shares are not allocated, RSUs don’t provide dividends to the stock holders. However this means that the employer issuing the RSUs needs to pay dividends in an escrow account that can help offset withholding taxes or be reinvested. This is something to keep in mind as a potential founder offering RSUs. Income Restrictions: RSUs aren’t taxable until they vest. So employees can’t pay taxes before vesting as the IRS doesn’t consider unvested RSUs to be tangible property. Shareholder Voting Rights: RSUs don’t grant the shareholder voting rights or input into the company until they are fully vested. How do restricted stock awards work? Restricted Stock Award shares are given to the employee on the day they are granted. While RSUs are more commonly awarded to general employees, RSAs are more common with early employees at a startup before the first round of equity financing. Instead of a timed out vesting period that portions out the stock like in an RSU, an RSA is the lump sum awarded on one date (although that may still be time-based). Vesting still applies in a different way to RSAs. Vesting only impacts a receivers RSAs if they are terminated or leave the company allowing the company to potentially purchase back the shares. The vesting is less about the employee owning the stock as the RSA is owned but about the ability to retain what is owned. However, there are usually time-based rules associated with RSAs so that the shares may expire if certain requirements, specifically financial requirements, aren’t reached. Most companies have vesting schedules in place to prevent individuals from joining a company, receiving their RSA award, and leaving immediately. Most RSA pros and cons are fairly similar to RSUs as RSAs are simply another form of restricted stock. How are restricted stock units taxed? With restricted stock, it’s important to consider two types of taxes: regular income tax and capital gains tax. Taxing on restricted stock is complex but the basic underlying factor of income still applies – anything that a company pays an employee is taxable. For RSUs, regular income taxes are paid when the recipient shares vest. How are restricted stock awards taxed? For RSAs, the receiver has to pay for them outright so when the vest date rolls around there are no additional taxes to pay on the shares themselves unless they change value. The RSA receiver will only need to pay taxes on the gains in value of the shares. The tax on gains between grant date and vesting will be income tax. The tax on gains between vesting and sale of those shares will be capital gains tax. An election called the 83(b) election can be selected on a tax form which means the recipient can pay all their ordinary income tax upfront. The 83(b) election is eligible for RSAs not RSUs.

On episode 8 of the Founders Forward Podcast we interview Nate Turner, Co-Founder of Ten Speed. Ten Speed helps “companies accelerate funnel growth by quickly growing traffic to existing content.” Prior to starting Ten Speed, Nate was the VP of Acquisition & Marketing Operations at Sprout Social (and their first marketer). Nate helped take Sprout Social from a modest startup doing a $100k in revenue to a publicly traded company doing over $100M in revenue during his time there. About Nate Nate leveraged SEO and other top-of-funnel growth tactics to help Sprout Social become the software juggernaut it is today. He has taken his learnings to Ten Speed where they help startups optimize existing and create new content to grow all aspects of their funnel. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Nate. You can give the full episode a listen below (or in any of your favorite podcast apps). What You Can Expect to Learn from Nate How Nate helped Sprout Social scale revenue to $100M+ How product impacts pricing and revenue How Sprout Social won in a crowded market How organic search can be a lever for growth Why companies should optimize existing content to grow organic traffic How early stage founders should think about budgeting for SEO and written content The biggest mistake he sees early stage companies make with SEO Related Resources Ten Speed Nate’s Twitter Nate’s LinkedIn

San Francisco and NYC hold the largest amount and value of venture investing across the US. However, with a plethora of urban areas, Texas is continuing to offer venture funding at a rapid pace. We will evaluate various VCs who are involved throughout Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. To keep an eye on Texas-based investments we wanted to share which venture capitalists are geologically active.Visible Connect is our investor database. Connect allows founders to find active investors using the fields we have found most valuable, including: Check size — minimum, max, and sweet spot Investment Geography — where a firm generally invests Board Seat — Determines the chances that an investment firm will take a board of directors seat in your startup/company. Traction Metrics — Show what metrics the Investing firm looks for when deciding whether or not to invest in the given startup/company. Verified — Shows whether or not the Investment Firm information was entered first-handed by a member of the firm or confirmed the data. And more! Using Visible Connect, we’ve identified the following investors, segmented by Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Search through these investors and 11,000+ more on Visible’s Connect platform. S3 Ventures With over 14 years of investing experience, S3 targets startups with a focus on Business Technology, Consumer Digital Experiences, and Healthcare Technology. S3 has branded themselves as “The Largest Venture Capital Firm Focused on Texas.” Led by Brian Smith, S3 invests between $250k – $10M. To learn more about S3 Ventures check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile Santé Ventures Santé invests at the intersection of health care and technology. Douglas French, Joe Cunningham, and Kevin Lalande are the three founding, managing directors of the Austin-based firm. Santé often leads entry-level rounds and is on the mission to improve people’s lives with every investment. To learn more about Santé Ventures check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile ATX Venture Partners ATX looks to invest in post-revenue companies with initial investments ranging from $300k – $3M. With a focus on the central-south US, ATX has always had a people-centric view and looks to drive performance through each of their investments. Brad Bentz, Danielle Weiss Allen and Chris Shonk lead the firm as Co-Founders and Partners. To learn more about ATX Venture Partners check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile LiveOak Venture Partners LiveOak is a premier seed and series A investor that looks to invest into teams. They focus primarily on tech-enabled businesses based in the Texas area. With over 15 years of VC experience, LiveOak has invested over $200M into Texan companies. Initial heck sizes range between $500k and $5M. To learn more about LiveOak Venture Partners check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile Next Coast Ventures Next Coast is a forward-thinking VC with over 30 investments. They follow investment themes relating to software, future of retail, communities, future of work, marketplaces, and self-care. They also run a blog with resources for founders and insight into their VC’s direction. To learn more about Next Coast Ventures check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile NEXT VENTŪRES NEXT VENTŪRES invests in the sports, fitness, nutrition, and wellness markets. Managed by Lance Armstrong, Lionel Conacher, and Melanie Strong, NEXT has a focus on passion and energy. NEXT is open to investments all over the world and offers check sizes between $500k and $3M. To learn more about NEXT VENTŪRES check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile RevTech Ventures RevTech is all about investing in the future of retail. RevTech looks to lead or follow onto deals at the pre-seed and seed level. Initial checks are around $100k and follow on capital ranges anywhere from $200k to $4M. David Matthews is the Managing Director. To learn more about RevTech Ventures check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile Goldcrest Capital Led by Adam Ross and Daniel Friedland, Goldcrest invests into private tech companies. They have logged over 20 investments and typically write checks between $1M and $10M. To learn more about Goldcrest Capital check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile Perot Jain Perot Jain has a focus on US-based companies that are tech-enabled. They offer up to $500k in initial checks to B2B businesses throughout seed and early-stage investments. The investment firm is led by Ross Perot Jr and Anurag Jain. Perot Jain ultimately partners with bold and innovative entrepreneurs. To learn more about Perot Jain check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile Work America Capital Work America Capital invests in Houstonians and Houston-based businesses by partnering with high-potential, talented leaders with a passion for building a business. Work America invests more than just capital. They look to offer coaching and mentoring to new business leaders. They are managed by Mark Toon and Jeffrey Smith. To learn more about Work America Capital check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile Vesalius Ventures Vesalius Ventures focuses on the intersection of medicine and emerging technology. As they focus on both early and mid-stage companies, Vesalius looks to offer both capital and management help to various health tech companies surrounding Texas. To learn more about Vesalius Ventures check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile Active Capital Active Capital has been investing in B2B SaaS companies for over 20 years. Active looks to participate in pre-seed and seed rounds, as they invest anywhere between $100k to $1M. They have an extensive and successful list of portfolio companies outside of Silicon Valley. To learn more about Active Capital check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile Texas Next Capital Texas Next has long created profitable companies throughout the industries of oil & gas, ranching, agriculture and real estate — which have stood as staples of the state. Their strategy is to invest directly into Texas, partner with Texas leaders/investors, and focus on small businesses. To learn more about Texas Next Capital check out their Visible Connect profile. View Profile To view Texas-based VCs and over 11,000 other global VCs, visit Visible Connect!

On episode 7 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Cheryl Campos, Head of Venture Growth and Partnerships at Republic. Republic is a crowdfunding platform for startups. It allows founders to access a wide range of angel investors and small check investors. Cheryl has been there for 3+ years and has watched the market transform and become a popular funding option for startups. About Cheryl Cheryl started at Harvard and went into banking but eventually landed at Republic. Over the course of her 3 years at Republic (even in just the last 90 days) the crowdfunding market has radically changed as more individuals are able to invest. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Cheryl. You can give the full episode a listen below (or in any of your favorite podcast apps). What You Can Expect to Learn from Cheryl How she went from banking to working for a startup How recent regulation changes have impacted crowdfunding What kind of companies generally succeed on Republic How the rates are structured at Republic How founders can leverage their crowd investors The importance of network effects How “community” is reshaping go-to-market and marketing Related Resources Chery’s Twitter Cheryl’s LinkedIn Republic Community Fund The Founders Forward is Produced by Visible Our platforms helps thousands of founders update investors, track key metrics, and raise capital. Try Visible free for 14 days. Related resource: Understanding The 4 Types of Crowdfunding

On episode 6 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Yin Wu, CEO and Founder of Pulley. Pulley is a cap table platform for hyper-growth startups. Pulley is the third company that Yin has started so it is safe to say she knows the ins and outs of building a startup. About Yin With her first 2 startups successfully exiting Yin has her eye’s set on a new market and issue that all founder face — cap tables and valuations. During her first bouts as a founder Yin had the realization that “no one starts a company because they want to pair this spreadsheet. You start a company cause there’s this vision, this idea that you want to bring it to this world.” In addition to sharing her learnings from building 3 companies, Yin also shares how founders should think about fundraising, cap table management, and distributing equity. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Yin. You can give the full episode a listen below (or in any of your favorite podcast apps). What You Can Expect to Learn from Yin Why Pulley wants to lower the bar to make it easier for founders to start a company Why founders should own 20% of their company by the time they raise a Series A Why they believe founder led companies are more successful in the long run How they are approaching hiring, mostly past founders, at Pulley How they are building their culture at Pulley How they approached their $10M funding round at Pulley What she learned from going through Y Combinator 3 times Related Resources Yin’s Twitter Yin’s LinkedIn Pulley The Founders Forward is Produced by Visible Our platforms helps thousands of founders update investors, track key metrics, and raise capital. Try Visible free for 14 days.

Businesses are formed through a number of different methods and structures. Different business structures are selected for a number of reasons: decision-making structures, financial implications, tax adjustments, flexibility, etc…One common example of a business structure or investor structure is the Limited Partnership or an LP. Let’s explore what exactly a Limited Partnership is, and the Pros and Cons of working within this specific structure. What Is a Limited Partnership? A Limited Partnership is a business partnership of 2 or more partners. Limited Partnerships are made up of partners that contribute a significant financial investment to the business. There are a few specifications that make a Limited Partnership what it is. Within the partnership, there is always 1 General Partner while the remaining member or members of the LP are considered Limited Partners. Beyond the breakdown of how the members of the LP are structured and held responsible, an LP operates in a few specific ways. For starters, they are pass-through entities. This means that the Limited Partnership itself is not subject to corporate income tax. Instead, the LPs profits flow through to the owners or members, or in this case Partners, and then those profits are taxed under individual income tax laws. Most states in the U.S. have specific laws governing the formation of LPs and most states require some form of registration of said LP with that state’s Secretary of State. Typically, LPs are formed as an ideal structure to raise capital for a particular set of investments that ensures limited liability for most members of the LP to protect losing more than they invest and maximizing their opportunity for gains. In tech, LPs are a common structure for many Venture Capital Firms or Private Investment Firms. In summary, remember these key takeaways about LPs: LPs have at least 2 members A Limited Partnership always has a General Partner while additional members are Limited Partners. LPs are pass-through entities. LPs protect most members’ assets with losses only ever being possible for the amount initially invested. Limited Partnerships are a great structure for raising capital for large, potentially risky investment opportunities – like software and technology companies. Related Resource: The Understandable Guide to Startup Funding Stages Related Resource: 6 Types of Investors Startup Founders Need to Know About How Does a Limited Partnership Work? Diving in more specifically to the structure of a Limited Partnership’s members, it’s critical to understand the difference between the General Partner and the Limited Partner(s). The General Partner oversees and runs the business including the day-to-day operations and management of the business, it’s activities, and it’s investments. Additionally, the General Partner takes on unlimited liability for the debt of the business as well as any obligations or activities as outlined in the partnership. The Limited Partner or Limited Partners do not make any decisions in the execution and operation of the business. However, they only have limited liability for the debt of the business, with liability only up to the amount they invested. Limited partners are sometimes known as passive or silent investors since they have no stake in the business and are more like general company shareholders with the type of influence they can have on the operations of the business. How Do You Form a Limited Partnership? The process of forming a Limited Partnership is fairly straightforward. As mentioned above, most states require Limited Partnerships to be registered with the state’s Secretary of State. So for most LPs in most states, the first step to forming an LP is to file as an official LP within the state your LP will be based in – the state your LP is registered in doesn’t mean that is where all your Limited Partners have to be residing, as they will pay individual income tax in their respective states, but it is where your LP will be registered to operate or where your LP will be headquartered. As part of registration with your Secretary of State, most states will require the LP to pay a filing fee. When an LP is officially recognized by the state government, the Limited Partnership will be granted a Certificate of Limited Partnership. This certificate includes the names and addresses of the general partner or partners, the street address of the LLP’s principal office, and a brief, formal statement of the partnership’s business. After the legal registration is complete, the next step to forming a Limited Partnership is to create a Limited Partnership Agreement. The LP Agreement will be a formal, legal document that governs how much ownership each Limited Partner has in the partnership, any partnership limitations or agreements that the General Partner must adhere to, and any other miscellaneous terms of the partnership. The Limited Partnership Agreement will serve as the foundational, fundamental outline of how your newly formed LP will operate. What to Include in a Partnership Agreement The Limited Partnership Agreement is a critical part of the formation of an LP. There are a number of pieces of information that should be included in a standard partnership agreement. Business Name: The formal name of the Limited Partnership should be clearly outlined at the heading of the partnership agreement. Business Purpose: The goal of the Limited Partnership should be outlined within the agreement. This should include the reason for establishing the LP as well as the purpose this LP will serve – what it’s investing in or why it’s formation will be a positive outcome for said business projects or initiates it will impact. Partner Structure: The Partnership Agreement should list out the roles and responsibilities of the General Partner and the Limited Partner(s). The agreement should also include the existing names of the GP and any current LPs – this can be amended at a later date if more LPs join or some exit the Limited Partnership. In addition to just outlining the specific roles of each partner, the partnership agreement should outline how specifically partners can leave the partnership. Ownership shares and capital contributions: This section of the Partnership Agreement should outline the specific capital contributions of the LPs within the Limited Partnership, as well as the equivalent ownership stake and shares that each LP is granted. This section should also cover how specifically any profits or losses will be divided among partners depending on their contributions and partnership status (Limited or General). Voting Rights and Decision Structure: Clearly outline how decisions within the partnership will be made. If there are voting rights for members beyond the General Partner(s) outline that. Additionally, outlining a plan for decision making should the GP have any trouble upholding their role or need to step down for any reason. Dissolution Guidelines: Like any business, not all LPs are going to have a successful outcome or last forever. As your forming your Limited Partnership, clearly outline what will happen should the lP ever dissolve – outline how assets will be divided, how knowledge will be dispersed, and any other structural outlines or decisions will be made. What Is An Example of a Limited Partnership Business? Now that we’re clear on what a Limited Partnership Business is and have the basics for the formation of one, it’s important to understand the types of businesses that may benefit from being established as Limited Partnerships. Commercial Real Estate Projects – Real estate, especially commercial real estate, typically requires a lot of capital up front in order to get a project off the ground and finished. This makes large commercial real estate projects a great candidate for a Limited Partnership Business. An experienced real estate investor or contractor may choose to form an LP for a large commercial project and serve as the general partner if the know space and market and are confident they can get a return. The LP structures secures that project capital up front from the limited partners and allows the general partner operators, maybe a lead investor or contractor or even construction company, to front the risk and manage the project. Estate Planning Businesses – If someone has a large estate that will need to be divided up and passed on, an LP is a good option to ensure this is done fairly and efficiently. An LP for an estate can ensure one primary partner is responsible for managing said estate and any ongoing businesses tied to that estate, while the Limited partners of said estate can benefit financially from a few very specific entities or allowances from said estate but will have no governing control of the assets. This LP is a great way for someone to ensure their estate is properly taken care of after they pass. Family Businesses – A business looking to operate without any external partners or investors, but rather, keep all financial stake within the business to family funds or money is a great candidate for a Limited Partnership. Within a family owned business, a specific family member can be designated as the General partner of the business and ensure all operations of the business run smoothly, while family money from other members serving as limited partners can finance the business. This keeps debt tied to the family vs. taking on any additional, outside debt. Limited Partnership Pros and Cons Like all business structures, there are pros and cons to forming a Limited Partnership. Pros Easy to Create – With essentially a 3-step process (Register with the state, pay a feel, write up an agreement), LPs are one of the easiest business types to create. This makes forming an LP as a way to fund and launch a business a great option. Additionally, LPs don’t come with formal reporting requirements like annual board meetings or shareholder meetings. The General Partner of the LP will handle decisions as clearly outlined in the partnership agreement. Personal Liability Protection – For the majority of stakeholders in an LP, the limited partners, there’s a limit to what they are liable for in the business. As stated, limited partners are only liable for the amount up to their investment so the risk is a lot more black and white and much less risky than other investment opportunities or business structures for the majority of stakeholders in an LP. Pass Through Entity – There is no self-employment taxes for limited partners and there are no corporate taxes for LPs, all partners are taxed with standard income tax so the financial structure of an LP is extremely straightforward and attractive for the participants. Less Formal – Outside of outlining the guidelines between the General Partner(s) role and the Limited Partner(s) role, there aren’t a lot of required formal structure or guidelines for running an LP. This allows LPs to be one of the most informal options for running your business which for many types of businesses is a great benefit, especially if the business is straightforward and extra structure or obligations would be unnecessary or frivolous. Cons Unlimited Personal Liability for the General Partner – While the Limited Partners benefit greatly from an LP structure, an General Partner in an LP is taking on unlimited personal liability with the business. This can be a huge risk and be extremely detrimental to a personal finance situation if said business does go under or doesn’t pan out as intended with its specific investments. For a lead investor to take on a GP role, the risks of unlimited personal liability are certainly something to consider. Limited Partner Participation – If having a stake in decisions about yoru investments is important to you, then investing as a limited partner in an LP could be a major con. Limited partners don’t have any say or influence on what happens within the LP which can be a con if you end up not liking the outcome of certain GP decisions or existing investments or outcomes within your LP. Ownership Changes – LPs come with a number of challenges with ownership and leadership. On the leadership side, it’s not a flexible structure for bringing in new management. Based on the way LPs and GPs are determined, from financial and liability stake, it’s not a straightforward process to bring in new operators – it requires a certain amount of financial contribution and changes ot the limited partnership agreement. On the ownership side, this also makes it hard to transfer to other investment entities like LLCs due to the way the capital and liabilities are divided out. An LP may not be the right structure if selling the business is part of the end game plan. After diving into the details of Limited Partnerships, how they are structured, and the pros and cons of selecting a Limited Partnership to establish your business, you may still have a few questions on the mind. Limited Partnership: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) How Are Limited Partnerships Taxed? LPs will not pay income tax. They are pass-through organizations so the individual partners of the LP will pay income taxes on their investments, earnings, and losses. How Do Limited Partners Earn Returns? Limited Partners will earn returns via dividends when their investments via the LP produce returns. Limited Partners will receive dividends in proportion to how much they invested in the Limited Partnership business. What Securities Laws Are Limited Partnerships Subject To? In general, LPs are subject to all state and federal security laws and must be registered unless a clear exemption is stated and available in their state or at the federal level for their specific business. What Is the Difference Between a Limited Partnership and a Sole Proprietorship? A sole proprietor is someone who owns an unincorporated business by themselves. A Limited Partnership requires at least 2 partners – a general partner and a limited partner – but may have more than 2 partners as well. What Is the Difference Between a Limited Partnerships and an LLC? An LLC, or a Limited Liability Company, is a company where there is limited liability to all owners. This differs from an LP because there is not one sole partner that has unlimited liability, so all members of an LLC have more protection for their investments. Both types of businesses are pass-through businesses from a taxation perspective. Find and Secure Funding for Your Limited Partnership With Visible Collect KPIs and metrics from portfolio companies, add investment data, and built beautiful reports and Updates to share with your limited partners all from one platform — learn how venture capital firms are leveraging Visible to level up their LP communication and fundraising efforts here. Related Resource: Investor Outreach Strategy: 9 Step Guide