In the early days of a startup, everyone is on the same page. But there’s no way of knowing how well the founding team will fare by the time the company matures.
Put aside the romantic notion that startup teams are made up of visionary mavericks building the future in real time. They are also human and have all their flaws.
Pretty much anything can tear a co-founder relationship apart. I’ve seen partnerships sour over funding disputes, product pipelines, and in one case, a bad experience with Burning Man.
Starry newlyweds regularly sign prenuptial agreements without losing their sense of idealism. Startup founders should do the same, advises Jonathon Aronoff, partner at litigation and employment law firm Harris St. Laurent & Wexler.
“Unfortunately, as too many co-founders and spouses have found, the best time to plan for negative outcomes is at the beginning of a relationship,” he wrote.
“Waiting for disputes to develop can be devastating and all too often leads to unruly lawsuits with no clear winner.”
Working with a lawyer to create “strong and clear governance documents” early in a relationship can help by creating a general plan on how to handle events such as future fundraising and M&A transactions. It goes a long way in building trust in the founding team.
One key takeaway: A 50:50 partnership sounds great, but if two people can’t come to an agreement, “it can lead to disastrous results,” says Aronoff. A coin toss is “not ideal”, so consider designating a trusted third party as a tiebreaker if necessary.
Very few founders have experience collaborating for long periods of time. Assuming the average exit takes him a little over seven years, it’s important to set clear expectations early in the game.
Thank you for reading.
Walter Thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist
Pitch Deck Teardown: Vori’s $10 Million Series A Deck
Image credit: boli (opens in new window)
B2B wholesale app Vori announced a $10 million Series A in August. This will help us expand our inventory management services for independent grocers.
“How do you make an interface as fun as Candy Crush?” asks CEO Brandon Hill in the video that accompanies the 13 slide deck the company shared with TC+.
- cover slide
- mission statement slide
- Vori-at-a-glance — (KPI slide, slightly edited)
- “We understand groceries” — Interstitial slide
- “Our Marketplace: Independent Grocery Chains” — Market Slide
- “Grocery stores still run on pencil and paper” — slide in question
- “How these stores operate now” — slide in question
- ‘Suddenly, COVID has changed everything in grocery’ – ‘Why now’ slides
- “Introducing Vori, the All-in-One Grocery Back Office” — Solution Slides
- “What Retailers Are Saying” — Market Validation Slides
- “The Largest Non-Digitalized Retail Segment on Earth” — Market Size/TAM/SAM/SOM Slides
- “Competing with Legacy Systems” — Competitive Slides (REDACTED)
- “This is what our team was born for” — Team Slides
Seven investors discuss how agtech can solve agriculture’s biggest problems
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Perhaps no industry in the world is more at risk from climate change than agriculture.
Among reputable scientists, the amount of CO is2 What we put into the atmosphere is already exacerbating extreme weather events. What impact will it have on how agtech VCs operate during a recession?
For more information, I did the following research:
- Brett Brohl, Managing Director, Techstars Farm to Fork, Managing Partner, Bread and Butter Ventures
- Monica Varman, Partner, G2 Venture Partners
- Jinesh Shah, Managing Partner, Omnivore
- Adam Anders, Managing Partner, Anterra Capital
- Ting-Ting Liu (Investor) and Ashutosh Sharma (Head of India, Prosus Ventures)
- Camila Petignat, Yield Lab Partner
Dear Sophie: Do you have any tips for negotiating visa and green card sponsorships?
Image credit: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch
Dear Sophie
I currently have an F-1 student visa. I will be completing my Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science in December and applying for OPT.I want to stay and work in America
Any tips for negotiating visa and green card sponsorship? Anything else to keep in mind when starting to contact prospective employers?
— shy student
The Changing Cloud Landscape: From Observability to Optimization
Image credit: Carlo Plearo / EyeEm (opens in new window) / Getty Images
Early-stage investor Chelsea Goddard has published a paper on the future of cloud computing in a carefully researched market map.
“After this wave of cloud and edge initiatives, infrastructure investments will shift to the next strategic priority for businesses: automation and optimization,” Goddard predicts.
US venture capital slowdown doesn’t look too bad
Image credit: Nigel Sussman (opens in new window)
Preliminary VC deal data for the third quarter appears to be lower than previous quarters of the year, according to PitchBook.
- Q1: $80B/4,740 deals
- Q2: $71.9 billion / 4,055 deals
- Q3 $43B/3,076 deals
Despite the apparent decline, “2022 is on pace to beat the venture total for any year we have data for, except 2021,” Alex Wilhelm told The Exchange. I am writing.
