Avoid the Startup Stock Options BS
Getting people to believe takes more than just handing out equity
Every single entrepreneur I’ve ever met has found themselves at this crossroads at least once, me included: You have a killer idea for a business. You have the skills and the experience to get it started. You might already be enjoying some green shoots of success.
What you don’t have is a certain set of skills to be able to take the next big step. It could be technical talent, sales and marketing talent — or any number of targeted skills that you desperately need to fill the gaps in your plan. And those skills don’t come cheap.
No problem, you think to yourself, you’ve got equity you can hand out.
But here’s the truth about how the startup equity equation plays out. There’s you on one side, asking, “How can I hire the best talent for the least amount of cash outlay?” On the other side, there’s someone asking, “How can I get in on the ground floor of a company but also be able to financially survive the journey?”
In all my years of startup experience, that tug of war is what it boils down to. Every time. And in order for that equation to work, a compromise must be reached, one that leverages a series of tradeoffs to fill the financial gaps on each side. The most valuable…
