It’s quite the norm for a startup to run on its own founders’ sweat equity and personal funds (bootstrapping) until the Company is able to raise outside capital. A very important question that isn’t asked often enough is, “how do I paper the money I’m putting in?” Does it just go in and disappear? Does it pay for my stock? While there are + and -s to different approaches, the answer that I almost always arrive at is: treat yourself like an investor. In other words, paper your bootstrapping in a way so that it goes (eventually) on the cap table. You benefit economically, and investors actually like to see evidence that you put more skin in the game than just your time.
- Don’t use it to buy Common Stock – Your Common Stock should almost always be issued at par value ($0.0001 per share or some similar number in your Certificate of Incorporation) at the very beginning of the Company. This is proper because the Company is worth very little from a “fair market value” perspective, and issuing it at a higher price sets a FMV precedent that ends up hurting later employees because they then have to pay that higher price too.
- Don’t buy Preferred Stock – Unless you’re a seasoned entrepreneur, the documentation and terms are too complicated for you to handle at the very early stages, and you’re not experienced enough to set a valuation. You’ll likely end up setting a bad precedent that will come back to bite you if you bring on real investors.
- Don’t treat it as a loan – How do you think it looks to an investor if you’re asking them to actually invest (not loan) their money and risk losing it all, but you’re only willing to loan your personal funds? Bad.
- Answer: Founder Convertible Notes – Issue yourselves convertible notes. Pre-financing, they are effectively a debt claim on your own company. But upon raising the threshold amount that you set in the notes, they’ll convert into Series A Preferred Stock. This means (1) you now have a liquidation preference that will ensure you at least get that money back on an exit alongside future investors (unlike your Common Stock, which will likely sit beneath them), and (2) you get to vote those shares alongside future Series A investors. Papering this is also a lot easier than buying preferred stock, and you don’t have to set a valuation.
Background Reading
Issues to Consider
- Interest rate on the notes: 4-8% is fair
- Discount on conversion: 20% is fair
- Qualified financing threshold – $500K-$1M is fair
- Cap on Conversion Valuation – Probably not a good idea for a founder note.
- Maturity – Give yourself enough time to raise funding. 18-24 months is fair.
- What happens at maturity? – Realize that at maturity, the notes will become “due.” This means the person holding the note can, if they want to, demand repayment (they could just extend otherwise) and cause all kinds of problems if they don’t get repaid. If it’s just one founder or a couple of people you trust, this likely won’t be a problem. Make sure the maturity period is long enough, and be aware of the risk. A lawyer could draft in extra protections to kick in at maturity, but that customization will cost money.
Good Forms to Use
- Clerky has the ability to issue convertible notes cheaply. For founder notes, you don’t need the term sheet. While these aren’t rocket science, it’s still best to hire a lawyer if you want to completely avoid mistakes. But if it’s just one founder, or a small group of founders with no legal budget, they could probably handle this on a DIY basis if they read carefully.
- Note that the Company’s Board of Directors should formally consent to the note financing. If you have a lawyer, ask for a simple board consent. The reality is, however, because only the founders are involved, you can just ratify later when you’ve hired decent counsel.