Brad Feld

Misleading title. The whole book is about start-ups in US, not India. This book could have been titled "Do More Faster Spain" and it wouldn't have made any difference to the content. The author asks entrepreneurs to register their company in Delaware. DELAWARE. It's 12,800 kms away from India!

I doubt if author even knows which part of the globe India is situated in. The only mention of India related content is in the title of the book. Nowhere else. Pathetic attempt to mislead Indian show more entrepreneurs into buying the book. show less

I am currently the President of a startup board. We're participating in a tech accelerator, and in my request for mentorship in this role, I was recommended this book.

This book gives a fair but not excellent overview of how to setup and manage the Board of a for-profit startup.

Some takeaways:
* Your board is as important as your executive team, and you should treat the addition of new board members just as thoroughly as you would hiring a new executive
* Board members (unlike shareholders) show more have two legal duties: the Duty of Care and the Duty of Loyalty
* Startup Boards generally begin composed of maybe three members, such as two founders and one independent
* At A Round, two investors tend to join from VC firms that participated in the round
* Board members should serve as mentors to their CEO, but they are not their friends, and shouldn't be thought of as such (as it is the Board the hires and fires the CEO)
* The Board is legally responsible for the startup, and can be personally liable in the instance of a poorly managed bankruptcy, etc.
* CEOs of peer startups tend to make for good independent directors
* The authors recommend startup boards meet monthly for the first two years of an enterprise, every six weeks for years three and four, and quarterly after that—although the particulars depend on the needs of the company
* Your lawyer should attend all Board meetings (which they may do at a free or reduced rate). They take minutes. Minutes record the minimum amount of information to meet legal requirements (such as the outcome of a vote) and nothing more (as too much detail could become a liability in a lawsuit).
* Generally, investor directors aren't compensated, as they already have equity, and founder directors aren't compensated specifically for their board role, as they receive a salary. Independent board directors can should likely receive compensation though to make it worth their while, although likely in stock rather than cash.
* Boards composition to evolve at an IPO or acquisition, as the roles and responsibilities for Directors change substantively during this transition
* Boards are responsible for the winding down of a company, such as a Chapter 11 bankruptcy (not great), Chapter 7 (very bad), or Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (often the best option)

One caveat is that this book is written for traditional tech startups in a traditional fundraising environment. As a crypto project with a non-profit side, some of their advice is off-base for my company, as industry norms have yet to be honed. show less

This is a great reference for any entrepreneur (or probably non-venture-specialist lawyers, or new investors) on how startup financing is structured. A lot of the term by term specifics on term sheets and acquisitions are a bit obscure, and some are really important and others aren't, so having a good framework to understand everything is great. The one problem with a book like this is "prevailing terms" often vary by geography and industry (and how hot your deal is), so it's still worth show more having great advisors and a peer community of other entrepreneurs for advice, but this book is a solid foundation.

Some of the best advice is to try to get as much of the meaningful structure of the deal negotiated as early as possible, between business principals, rather than leaving it to lawyers, and that some specific types of transactions lend themselves to reputation-based win/win negotiation and other types of financing transactions are single-round and selfish.

There's some good advice on negotiation of financing deals as well, although anyone negotiating deals regularly (not just financing, but also sales, employment, etc.) should learn a lot more about negotiation itself. show less

Excellent for entrepreneurs and junior corporate lawyers who work with startups. Thoughtful, comprehensive and well written -- they did the best they could to make what are dry topics to non-lawyers interesting through humor and by providing competing perspectives on issues (both investor and entrepreneur). Not really a resource for lawyers who have been doing this for a few years, but that's not their audience.