7 ms·

Series D (with 3 seed rounds) and 4 founders....what does the equity shares for each founder look like? 3% maybe?

by witcherchaos 7y ago

caprese 7y ago
thats a great question
youeseh 7y ago
Their equity percentage may have gone down but the value of their equity probably went up.
- witcherchaos 7y ago
  Or looking at it another way, you can stress out for a company for 8 year (in case of segment), or or you can join the company as a c-level exec at year 6 for the same amount of equity
  - youeseh 7y ago
    Wouldn't getting to the point where you are a C-level at such a company be pretty stressful as well?
  - seem_2211 7y ago
    The sort of person who grows a company from Show HN -> Series D is a very different sort of person than the sort of person who can join as a C Level exec.
    - nostrademons 7y ago
      There's more overlap than I would've suspected - a lot of the Director/VP types that I saw Google hire from the outside (as opposed to promote from within) were folks who had previously founded a company, sometimes up to 4 companies.
      - seem_2211 7y ago
        Agreed, but that's different again. Once you've done a job like be the CTO or CEO or an exec role at a high growth startup (like Segment) then getting into a role as an exec at a larger company.
  - nostrademons 7y ago
    Usually the folks who join a (successful) company as a C-level exec at year 6 are those who previously stressed out for 10+ years, either as a founder or working their way up through multiple successful projects at a big company.
mritchie712 7y ago
If they raised 175, the valuation was likely at least 300 and more likely north of 500. Even 3% is worth $15M and I'd guess they each have a bit more than that.
- kornish 7y ago
  The valuation for the Series D is 1.5B. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-02/startup-segment-is-worth-1-5-billion-thanks-to-companies-troves-of-customer-data https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-02/startup-s...
holler 7y ago
where did you guess 3% from? even with 4 founders and series D, is that realistic or a bit low?
ktamura 7y ago
Realistically, if it's equal splits, they probably each own ~5% of the company (By that stage, the founder shares can be down to ~20%) If they are raising $175M, their dilution is probably in the ~15% range, putting their valuation a bit north of $1B. So, each founder probably is worth, on paper, around $50M right now. Again, this assumes equal splits. It's possible that the CEO has more shares by virtue of assuming greater responsibilities.

Series D (with 3 seed rounds) and 4 founders....what does the equity shares for each founder look like? 3% maybe?

caprese 7y ago

thats a great question

youeseh 7y ago

Their equity percentage may have gone down but the value of their equity probably went up.

witcherchaos 7y ago
Or looking at it another way, you can stress out for a company for 8 year (in case of segment), or or you can join the company as a c-level exec at year 6 for the same amount of equity
- youeseh 7y ago
  Wouldn't getting to the point where you are a C-level at such a company be pretty stressful as well?
- seem_2211 7y ago
  The sort of person who grows a company from Show HN -> Series D is a very different sort of person than the sort of person who can join as a C Level exec.
  - nostrademons 7y ago
    There's more overlap than I would've suspected - a lot of the Director/VP types that I saw Google hire from the outside (as opposed to promote from within) were folks who had previously founded a company, sometimes up to 4 companies.
    - seem_2211 7y ago
      Agreed, but that's different again. Once you've done a job like be the CTO or CEO or an exec role at a high growth startup (like Segment) then getting into a role as an exec at a larger company.
- nostrademons 7y ago
  Usually the folks who join a (successful) company as a C-level exec at year 6 are those who previously stressed out for 10+ years, either as a founder or working their way up through multiple successful projects at a big company.

mritchie712 7y ago

If they raised 175, the valuation was likely at least 300 and more likely north of 500. Even 3% is worth $15M and I'd guess they each have a bit more than that.

kornish 7y ago
The valuation for the Series D is 1.5B. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-02/startup-segment-is-worth-1-5-billion-thanks-to-companies-troves-of-customer-data https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-02/startup-s...

holler 7y ago

where did you guess 3% from? even with 4 founders and series D, is that realistic or a bit low?

ktamura 7y ago

Realistically, if it's equal splits, they probably each own ~5% of the company (By that stage, the founder shares can be down to ~20%) If they are raising $175M, their dilution is probably in the ~15% range, putting their valuation a bit north of $1B. So, each founder probably is worth, on paper, around $50M right now. Again, this assumes equal splits. It's possible that the CEO has more shares by virtue of assuming greater responsibilities.