Seed capital and ownership

A common mistake entrepreneurs make, especially in the startup’s early stage, is to worry too much about valuation and dilution. The business, after all, is their “baby” and they can’t give away too much too soon – every share is worth fighting for! Well, guess what, the business is almost as much of a baby to those who are willing to back you up so early. Overvaluing the company from the get-go generates problems on several fronts.

Seed capital must be priced with care

First, very often the early investors are “3Fs” (friends, family and fools) or an angel who is only within one or two degrees of separation. Selling an overpriced product, even if you didn’t do it with bad intentions, may leave everyone with a bad taste in their mouths; especially if an institutional investor comes in a year later and values the company at half the first round. It’s hard to explain that to your uncle.

Also, overpricing makes it more difficult to raise new rounds. It sends the wrong message to more sophisticated investors. The impression is that you either don’t know how to value a company, purposely overpriced it, or the company simply lost some of its value. Neither is a good story to tell when you are sitting across the table from a VC.

Obviously, at the same time it isn’t good for anyone that the first couple of investors grab more than say 30-40% of the company. The entrepreneur needs to remain motivated, ideally also vesting some of the equity (more about that in a future post). But getting obsessed with dilution is bad for your startup. The more deep-pockets have their skin in the game the better and greater the chances the business will grow for everyone. After all, which would you prefer: 90% of a pizza or 10% of Pizza Hut?

See also Not All Angel Investors Are From Heaven. Image: generalstorecafenj.com

Have you raised seed capital with 3Fs or angel investors? Leave us a comment!