A sales negotiation Deal Desk can streamline your sales team’s negotiation process, providing critical guidance and support for standard and complex deals alike. On the ground leaders of The Circle share best practices for creating, implementing, running, and optimizing a Deal Desk operation.
When navigating towards your IPO, finding and setting the correct price for your company’s stock can be one of the most important aspects of the process. Kim Jabal of Unity joins The Circle to discuss the ins and outs of the price discovery process.
Sales compensation is often rife with difficulty and unintended consequences. Leading startup CFOs and a Deloitte principal discuss how to get it right.
From his former role as CFO of Oracle to his current position as co-CEO + CFO of a SPAC, Jeff Epstein has earned plenty of scar tissue with invaluable experience as a CFO for both private and public companies. Jeff shares his views on CFO best practices, navigating the transition from public to private, the “why” of SPACs, and more.
Veteran CFO Lee Kirkpatrick guided Twilio to and through its IPO from 2012-2018. Now he’s an active board member and executive advisor to both venture-backed and public companies. Lee shares his views and best practices for exercising greater empathy, up-and-down the organization, as a cornerstone to being a strong leader in the company.
Veteran CFO Criss Harms guided ForeScout, a 20-year-old company, for nearly eight years to and through its IPO from 2013-2020 where he helped scale the business with people, systems, and processes. Having traveled the entire start-up journey, Criss has key insight and experience concerning CFO leadership and strategy.
While discussions about mental health in the workplace have always been critical, the unending parade of uncertainties and challenges in 2020 has heightened the issue’s size, scale, and intensity. Our friends from Lyra Health and Culture Amp lead The|Circle group to dig deeper into the frameworks and statistics around mental health, map that data to the tech workforce, and explore different benefits and resources for employee support.
2020 has introduced a wide range of new, unpredictable variables to consider when financial planning for the future. The|Circle convened this week to discuss different planning approaches, including scenario planning, general planning advice, and tactics for communicating these plans to the board.
Team Morgan Stanley helped provide some context behind the robust valuations, changing strategies, and structural innovations of today’s market, and offered their advice for how emerging leaders can capitalize on these trends for future success.
Despite a global pandemic and recession, CFO Tim Bixby recently helped steer Lemonade to one of the best IPO debuts of 2020. Having traveled the entire startup-journey through IPO more than once (LPSN, SSTK), Tim has the critical experience and insight into the leadership and strategy necessary to be a successful CFO.
Representing 40% of the entire IPO market today, SPACs are quickly becoming an alternative way for venture-backed companies to go public. But what exactly are SPACs? How do they work? How do they differ from a traditional IPO? And why the recent hype?
Led by our mutual friends, Rob Krolik and David Oppenheimer, this Circle|Call was geared towards discussing how CFOs can shift their role from one that reports to the board to one that leads the board (of course, in conjunction with their CEO).
CFO’s touch upon so many aspects of the business and a critical one is owning and managing the majority of a company’s software stack. The CFO|Circle convened to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of the software they are using today, best practices for implementation, and if there should be a specific role hired to manage the stack.
A sharing of ideas and experimentation’s on this rapidly evolving area to support working parents during distance learning and shelter in place. By all accounts, everyone’s kids will continue to be at home for distance learning with their schools. Under all circumstances, it can eat into their productivity and cause friction in their work satisfaction. What do we (companies) do?
A broader group discussion focused on “how to” approach an entirely unprecedented but not unexpected issue that companies are contending with for their working parents. A big population to solve for (64% of households 2+ working parents). And one to pay attention to as attrition seems to be a high possibility. How will your company try to help make this new reality more sustainable?
This Circle|Call series was focused on figuring out how to invite employees back to the office (or continue supporting them remotely) with peer-to-peer first-hand accounts and benchmarking data on what is and isn’t working in this herculean endeavor.
Complimenting as well as contrasting points of view by Dave Dorman and Sid Sijbrandij were shared with leaders of The Circle on how leaders can be available, communicative, and vulnerable to drive desired attitudes and behaviors throughout the organization and across all stakeholders.
Companies are looking to finding ways to drive culture and KPI’s during this current environment. Together with folks at Tala, Scoop, and Brunswick, The|Circle discussed people-based policies, services, and communications to help employees feel both supported and inspired to do their best work.
The Circle community came together with a stellar cast of subject matter experts (Damla Gerhart from CBRE, Melissa Hanley from Blitz, Eric Pfeiffer from Corral and Shannon Magari from Colden) in the areas of space planning, architectural/interior design, and workspace ergonomics to discuss how once employees are on-site, how to drive desired perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors through human-factors and ergonomics design.
We take “invest in people” to heart. Each month we try to get to know a team member a little bit better and each time we are left in awe. See why.
As most companies are grappling with whether or not they will stay remote past the lift of sheltering in place restrictions The Circle community came together with veterans Lori McLeese of Automattic, Paul Machle of GitLab, and Jeff Harper of HashiCorp. To learn from their firsthand experiences as to why it can work, which myths to bust, and the nuances on being all remote.
The Circle gathered this week with our consumer-focused CEOs and CFOs to discuss the consumer tech market playbook, from the perspectives of public company CEOs, CFOs, and Boards. Umi Mehta & Shaan Tehal of Morgan Stanley joined the group to synthesize for them what they’ve learned from scores of public company leadership conversations.
The Circle gathered this week with a broad group to discuss the top of mind topic of health and safety of their employees back at the office, all of whom have been directly dealing with this subject matter every day since the onset of shelter in place.
The Circle came together with Tim Kazul, Jon Wittemyer, Lukas Ault @ CBRE, and Katherine Murphy, Brenna Moorhead @ Goodwin to discuss how to work with your landlord on financial needs here-and-now and space need in the near future as impacted by the pandemic.
The CEO|Circle + CFO|Circle came together with Paul Kwan, Head of Morgan Stanley’s W. Coast Tech Group, and Melissa Knox, Global Head of Software, to discuss Morgan Stanley’s software market playbook which they’ve synthesized from scores of public company leadership conversations they’ve held.
The CFO|Circle was joined by Kevin Grumberg + Grant Fondo + Derek Cohen of Goodwin and Courtney Dorman + Amy Koch of Brunswick who offered a framework for assessing and managing risk with respect to audits, lawsuits and unwanted publicity around the PPP loan.
The CEO|Circle came together with James Kim + Nadir Shaikh of Qatalyst Partners to discuss M&A considerations during COVID19. During these challenging times, Qatalyst shared how CEOs can and should cultivate meaningful relationships on both sides of the M&A equation.
The CFO|Circle came together with Adam Steinberger + Michael Barrett + Dennis Minich of Andersen Tax and Kevin Grumberg of Goodwin to discuss the loan forgiveness provisions under the CARES Act and the latest Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) developments.
The CFO|Circle (65 attendees!) convened to discuss a topic most don’t ever want to live through, but now many are – Reduction in Workforce (RIF). Together they’ve identified the do’s and dont’s of executing a RIF, from where to start to what to offer and how to best communicate with their employees.
Recently the consumer-facing CEOs of our CEO|Circle got together to share strategies and tactics for optimizing growth during these unprecedented times. This peer group offered helpful insights into how they are taking advantage of areas where there is “Room to Grow.”
CFO|Circle convened to discuss burning topics during the Pandemic of COVID-19. As always, and especially now, leaning in and helping each other navigate through unprecedented times.
The CEO|Circle was joined by Nader Kabbani VP of Amazon Flex and Last Mile Logistics to discuss best practices for COVID prevention and recovery for fulfillment facilities.
CEO’s & CFO’s of The Circle convened with Karl Jacob to discuss “How to survive so you can thrive in Wartime”. Karl shared actionable (albeit painful) tips-and-tricks learned from the scar tissue he endured through the ’00-’02 and ’08-’10 (+’11-’12) downturn
Peers of the CEO|Circle and CFO|Circle convened on a discussion w/ Ken Loveless, a Managing Partner here at Founders Circle Capital and veteran of SVB on “Managing Your Company’s Debt During the Current Downturn.”
The CFO|Circle came together with Steve Liu (Shareworks, SVB, KPMG) to share insights on whether the current volatile market might impact valuations of private companies and, if so, steps CFOs might take to position their companies for this reassessment.
CEO’s, CFO’s and CRO’s of The Circle for Enterprise companies convened with Scott Davis to discuss first principles to focus on that will increase the probability for revenue to stabilize, or even grow, in a downturn as well as position the company for growth post-downturn.
CFO’s, today’s “Risk Officers”, convened with Rob Krolik (who leads the CFO|Circle Masterclass series) to discuss how to scenario plan around the financial downturn, including how to model cash preservation and assumptions to make around revenue and expenses.
We take “invest in people” to heart. Each month we try to get to know a team member a little bit better and each time we are left in awe. See why.
Traditions and family are something we truly value at Founders Circle. We hope these traditions either make you chuckle or resonate with you. From our family to yours have a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Focusing on employee retention can result in significant savings. Here are the pro’s favorite strategies and ideas to help retain their star talent
In a wide-ranging conversation, Chris Barbin from GGV capital shares what he did to retain employees and the importance of finding the reasons for attrition.
Patty McCord literally wrote the book on building effective teams after her tenure at Netflix. Here she shares why low retention rate shouldn’t be a goal.
Despite offering competitive pay and benefits like paid parental leave and tuition reimbursement, startup turnover is still double the average. Find out why.
As more and more startups elect to stay private for longer, the mandated 10-year expiration date on incentive stock options is becoming a real problem.
Stock options have been a way for startups to incentivize employees but with them comes regulatory requirements in the form of a 409A valuation for startups.
Secondary stock sales have always been possible, but their popularity has soared in the last 10 years. Learn about the history secondary transactions & market.
A little-known tax incentive for investing in qualified small businesses can help investors get $10M tax-free.
Incentivizing employees with stock options is common in startups, but it can be difficult to know which types of stock options to provide at each stage.
Figuring out how to manage what type of equity to issue—Restricted Stock, ISO, NSO, or RSU—is an ever-present challenge for startups, with the best strategy changing as a company grows.
A reflection on life as a private company for over a decade and the importance of culture to sustain the team through the inevitable ups, downs, and pivots that any successful startup encounters.
Free flowing private capital, strong cash generation, and a desire to avoid regulatory requirements
For private companies, deciding whether and how employees may sell shares can be tricky. On one hand.
Building a great technology start-up to and through a financial exit happens to a rare few.
Incentive stock options plans were originally designed to encourage employees to patiently help build startups over the long term.
Countless workers have been hit with surprise tax bills after they exercise options, the result of Internal Revenue Service rules that haven’t always been friendly to startups.
In Silicon Valley, a tender offer that allows longtime employees at high-performing startups to get some liquidity is fast becoming an expected benefit. While secondary stock sales have always been possible, their popularity—and legitimacy—has soared in the past 10 years as successful companies put off IPOs in favor of staying private
The market for private company equity sales, also known as the secondary market.
Three ways to maximize charitable giving and considerations around giving globally. Identify and execute on creative ways to implement your bold ideas quickly.
If you are facing a potential taxable event from shares you acquired in a private company, understanding the ins and outs of Section 1202 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) just might ease the pain of one of life’s inevitabilities.
Proper insurance coverage can save time and money while providing peace of mind for the individual, loved ones and co-founders.
This article explores some of the many ways that a founder can get the liquidity they need and continue to build their business for the long term.
The market for private company equity sales, also known as the secondary market.
Clients of the Private Bank may face reduced tax savings starting in 2017 due to new Treasury Department regulations.
In our September article “Exploring Founder Liquidity Options”, we described some ways that
While secondary stock sales have always been possible, their popularity—and legitimacy—has soared in the past 10 years as successful companies put off IPOs in favor of staying private
When an entrepreneur has an opportunity to solve for a liquidity need with an exit, loan, or other option, the plan should address key questions, SVB shares what those are.
In this post, SVB summarizes some of the most impactful provisions of the TCJA, and provides practical actions for you to consider.
Randy Adler, Partner at Fox Rothschild, explains why the traditional private company lifeline no longer applies and why companies are staying private longer.
Will Skinner, Partner at Fenwick & West’s Silicon Valley office, discusses the applicability of the QSBS in the context of secondary transactions and M&A events.
Kristine Di Bacco, Partner at Fenwick & West, outlines the disclosure requirements a private company must satisfy when relying on Rule 701 to issue stock to employees.
Kristine Di Bacco, Partner at Fenwick & West, provides an overview of Rule 701, an exemption that allows private companies to issue equity to their employees.
Ryan Logue, COO of Nasdaq Private Market, breaks down the types of company disclosures generally made available in a private tender offer.
Ryan Logue, COO of Nasdaq Private Market, explains why more private companies are choosing to offer recurring liquidity programs for their shareholders.
Ryan Logue, COO of Nasdaq Private Market, gives an overview of the history of the private company secondary market, including a discussion of how it has evolved and current trends.
Ryan Logue, COO of Nasdaq Private Market, gives an overview of the trends in private company secondary liquidity and how companies use NPM’s structured liquidity services to facilitate shareholder liquidity.
Christine McCarthy, Partner at Orrick, discusses the trend of companies staying private longer and how that impacts equity compensation plans.
Jim Fulton, Partner at Cooley LLP, discusses the various options available to founders of private companies looking for partial liquidity in their shares prior to an exit event.
Will Skinner, Partner at Fenwick & West’s Silicon Valley office, discusses the types of companies that qualify under the QSBS rules.
Ryan Logue, COO of Nasdaq Private Market, talks about how and why private companies offer structured liquidity programs to facilitate shareholder liquidity.
When life unexpectedly knocks on their door, it can be critically important on the personal front and unavoidably distracting on the work front.
A sales negotiation Deal Desk can streamline your sales team’s negotiation process, providing critical guidance and support for standard and complex deals alike. On the ground leaders of The Circle share best practices for creating, implementing, running, and optimizing a Deal Desk operation.
When navigating towards your IPO, finding and setting the correct price for your company’s stock can be one of the most important aspects of the process. Kim Jabal of Unity joins The Circle to discuss the ins and outs of the price discovery process.
Sales compensation is often rife with difficulty and unintended consequences. Leading startup CFOs and a Deloitte principal discuss how to get it right.
From his former role as CFO of Oracle to his current position as co-CEO + CFO of a SPAC, Jeff Epstein has earned plenty of scar tissue with invaluable experience as a CFO for both private and public companies. Jeff shares his views on CFO best practices, navigating the transition from public to private, the “why” of SPACs, and more.
Veteran CFO Lee Kirkpatrick guided Twilio to and through its IPO from 2012-2018. Now he’s an active board member and executive advisor to both venture-backed and public companies. Lee shares his views and best practices for exercising greater empathy, up-and-down the organization, as a cornerstone to being a strong leader in the company.
Veteran CFO Criss Harms guided ForeScout, a 20-year-old company, for nearly eight years to and through its IPO from 2013-2020 where he helped scale the business with people, systems, and processes. Having traveled the entire start-up journey, Criss has key insight and experience concerning CFO leadership and strategy.
While discussions about mental health in the workplace have always been critical, the unending parade of uncertainties and challenges in 2020 has heightened the issue’s size, scale, and intensity. Our friends from Lyra Health and Culture Amp lead The|Circle group to dig deeper into the frameworks and statistics around mental health, map that data to the tech workforce, and explore different benefits and resources for employee support.
2020 has introduced a wide range of new, unpredictable variables to consider when financial planning for the future. The|Circle convened this week to discuss different planning approaches, including scenario planning, general planning advice, and tactics for communicating these plans to the board.
Team Morgan Stanley helped provide some context behind the robust valuations, changing strategies, and structural innovations of today’s market, and offered their advice for how emerging leaders can capitalize on these trends for future success.
Despite a global pandemic and recession, CFO Tim Bixby recently helped steer Lemonade to one of the best IPO debuts of 2020. Having traveled the entire startup-journey through IPO more than once (LPSN, SSTK), Tim has the critical experience and insight into the leadership and strategy necessary to be a successful CFO.
Representing 40% of the entire IPO market today, SPACs are quickly becoming an alternative way for venture-backed companies to go public. But what exactly are SPACs? How do they work? How do they differ from a traditional IPO? And why the recent hype?
Led by our mutual friends, Rob Krolik and David Oppenheimer, this Circle|Call was geared towards discussing how CFOs can shift their role from one that reports to the board to one that leads the board (of course, in conjunction with their CEO).
CFO’s touch upon so many aspects of the business and a critical one is owning and managing the majority of a company’s software stack. The CFO|Circle convened to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of the software they are using today, best practices for implementation, and if there should be a specific role hired to manage the stack.
A sharing of ideas and experimentation’s on this rapidly evolving area to support working parents during distance learning and shelter in place. By all accounts, everyone’s kids will continue to be at home for distance learning with their schools. Under all circumstances, it can eat into their productivity and cause friction in their work satisfaction. What do we (companies) do?
A broader group discussion focused on “how to” approach an entirely unprecedented but not unexpected issue that companies are contending with for their working parents. A big population to solve for (64% of households 2+ working parents). And one to pay attention to as attrition seems to be a high possibility. How will your company try to help make this new reality more sustainable?
This Circle|Call series was focused on figuring out how to invite employees back to the office (or continue supporting them remotely) with peer-to-peer first-hand accounts and benchmarking data on what is and isn’t working in this herculean endeavor.
Complimenting as well as contrasting points of view by Dave Dorman and Sid Sijbrandij were shared with leaders of The Circle on how leaders can be available, communicative, and vulnerable to drive desired attitudes and behaviors throughout the organization and across all stakeholders.
Companies are looking to finding ways to drive culture and KPI’s during this current environment. Together with folks at Tala, Scoop, and Brunswick, The|Circle discussed people-based policies, services, and communications to help employees feel both supported and inspired to do their best work.
The Circle community came together with a stellar cast of subject matter experts (Damla Gerhart from CBRE, Melissa Hanley from Blitz, Eric Pfeiffer from Corral and Shannon Magari from Colden) in the areas of space planning, architectural/interior design, and workspace ergonomics to discuss how once employees are on-site, how to drive desired perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors through human-factors and ergonomics design.
We take “invest in people” to heart. Each month we try to get to know a team member a little bit better and each time we are left in awe. See why.
As most companies are grappling with whether or not they will stay remote past the lift of sheltering in place restrictions The Circle community came together with veterans Lori McLeese of Automattic, Paul Machle of GitLab, and Jeff Harper of HashiCorp. To learn from their firsthand experiences as to why it can work, which myths to bust, and the nuances on being all remote.
The Circle gathered this week with our consumer-focused CEOs and CFOs to discuss the consumer tech market playbook, from the perspectives of public company CEOs, CFOs, and Boards. Umi Mehta & Shaan Tehal of Morgan Stanley joined the group to synthesize for them what they’ve learned from scores of public company leadership conversations.
The Circle gathered this week with a broad group to discuss the top of mind topic of health and safety of their employees back at the office, all of whom have been directly dealing with this subject matter every day since the onset of shelter in place.
The Circle came together with Tim Kazul, Jon Wittemyer, Lukas Ault @ CBRE, and Katherine Murphy, Brenna Moorhead @ Goodwin to discuss how to work with your landlord on financial needs here-and-now and space need in the near future as impacted by the pandemic.
The CEO|Circle + CFO|Circle came together with Paul Kwan, Head of Morgan Stanley’s W. Coast Tech Group, and Melissa Knox, Global Head of Software, to discuss Morgan Stanley’s software market playbook which they’ve synthesized from scores of public company leadership conversations they’ve held.
The CFO|Circle was joined by Kevin Grumberg + Grant Fondo + Derek Cohen of Goodwin and Courtney Dorman + Amy Koch of Brunswick who offered a framework for assessing and managing risk with respect to audits, lawsuits and unwanted publicity around the PPP loan.
The CEO|Circle came together with James Kim + Nadir Shaikh of Qatalyst Partners to discuss M&A considerations during COVID19. During these challenging times, Qatalyst shared how CEOs can and should cultivate meaningful relationships on both sides of the M&A equation.
The CFO|Circle came together with Adam Steinberger + Michael Barrett + Dennis Minich of Andersen Tax and Kevin Grumberg of Goodwin to discuss the loan forgiveness provisions under the CARES Act and the latest Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) developments.
The CFO|Circle (65 attendees!) convened to discuss a topic most don’t ever want to live through, but now many are – Reduction in Workforce (RIF). Together they’ve identified the do’s and dont’s of executing a RIF, from where to start to what to offer and how to best communicate with their employees.
Recently the consumer-facing CEOs of our CEO|Circle got together to share strategies and tactics for optimizing growth during these unprecedented times. This peer group offered helpful insights into how they are taking advantage of areas where there is “Room to Grow.”
CFO|Circle convened to discuss burning topics during the Pandemic of COVID-19. As always, and especially now, leaning in and helping each other navigate through unprecedented times.
The CEO|Circle was joined by Nader Kabbani VP of Amazon Flex and Last Mile Logistics to discuss best practices for COVID prevention and recovery for fulfillment facilities.
CEO’s & CFO’s of The Circle convened with Karl Jacob to discuss “How to survive so you can thrive in Wartime”. Karl shared actionable (albeit painful) tips-and-tricks learned from the scar tissue he endured through the ’00-’02 and ’08-’10 (+’11-’12) downturn
Peers of the CEO|Circle and CFO|Circle convened on a discussion w/ Ken Loveless, a Managing Partner here at Founders Circle Capital and veteran of SVB on “Managing Your Company’s Debt During the Current Downturn.”
The CFO|Circle came together with Steve Liu (Shareworks, SVB, KPMG) to share insights on whether the current volatile market might impact valuations of private companies and, if so, steps CFOs might take to position their companies for this reassessment.
CEO’s, CFO’s and CRO’s of The Circle for Enterprise companies convened with Scott Davis to discuss first principles to focus on that will increase the probability for revenue to stabilize, or even grow, in a downturn as well as position the company for growth post-downturn.
CFO’s, today’s “Risk Officers”, convened with Rob Krolik (who leads the CFO|Circle Masterclass series) to discuss how to scenario plan around the financial downturn, including how to model cash preservation and assumptions to make around revenue and expenses.
We take “invest in people” to heart. Each month we try to get to know a team member a little bit better and each time we are left in awe. See why.
Traditions and family are something we truly value at Founders Circle. We hope these traditions either make you chuckle or resonate with you. From our family to yours have a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Focusing on employee retention can result in significant savings. Here are the pro’s favorite strategies and ideas to help retain their star talent
In a wide-ranging conversation, Chris Barbin from GGV capital shares what he did to retain employees and the importance of finding the reasons for attrition.
Patty McCord literally wrote the book on building effective teams after her tenure at Netflix. Here she shares why low retention rate shouldn’t be a goal.
Despite offering competitive pay and benefits like paid parental leave and tuition reimbursement, startup turnover is still double the average. Find out why.
As more and more startups elect to stay private for longer, the mandated 10-year expiration date on incentive stock options is becoming a real problem.
Stock options have been a way for startups to incentivize employees but with them comes regulatory requirements in the form of a 409A valuation for startups.