Investor
Pros
Cons
Al
Huge
∙
capital
business, showing a halfhearted commitment to the new
investment
venture business.
of 5075k
∙
Al feels that he should continue working for the present
The role of Al is not being mentioned at all and this
needs to be addressed.
∙
Al seems to appear as a “sleeping” investor who
demands the largest pie of the company. The other partners may be able to find cheaper capital funding and still retain a larger ownership of the company.
Bill
The pay of ∙
Bill states that he could work nights and some
$25k seems weekends. The partners will have to fit in his schedule with to be the company and also ask if he is able to work from home if
reasonable.
necessary.
∙
The investment of $1020k and his inflexible works
does not seem to warrant him to be a large shareholder, especially when there are other investors such as Al who is willing to invest 35 times the amount of Bill.
Carl
Carl
can ∙
potentially
The expected compensation of $75k is essentially 1/3 of
the revenue of what Carl is bringing in, thereby eliminating
bring
in any value that he adds on for the team.
$225k
of ∙
Compensation of $75k from a startup company also
revenue for seems to be unreasonable, as compared to his present the company.
compensation of $50k. Carl should expect a lower
compensation for salary, but to be compensated in terms of stock options when the company does well.
∙
Moreover, Carl also expects to be compensated in terms
of equity as well.
Dave
Dave
is ∙
committed
Dave’s expected compensation of $45k is higher than
his current pay by the established firm in the corporate
to working world. Dave should lower his expected compensation, but full time.
expect stock options as a form of incentive when the company does well.
Elisa
Elisa
can ∙
potentially bring in terms of profit for the startup company.
in ∙ Hence, Elisa should be compensated less than $167k
revenue of ∙
$500k
The additional $500k would translate to a rough $167k
Additionally, incentives (stock options) should be given
for to Elisha when she is able to meet or beat expected sales.
the company. The first problem with this case is the noncompete agreements employees will have to sign before they quit their jobs. Assuming there are no noncompete agreements. The current proposal for Al and Bill would create conflict of interest.
However, common benefits that startups have over the traditional corporate world include perks such as increased flexibility in work hours, more creative control, increase in work ownership and earlier exposure to more responsibilities which should translate into higher productivity.
Statistically, 55% of new startups do not make it beyond five years and only 29% are still in business 10 years after. Therefore, if these five individuals were to leave corporate and start fresh
their personal financial security would decrease and they would lose all the benefits that they enjoyed working for their company. This may not be a huge problem for the younger members of the group. However, older members with children and mortgages would want to be compensated more for the risk that they are taking.
Whether the team survives beyond the five year mark depends on the company’s ability to generate enough revenue to sustain its operations. Our team made the assumptions that the startup cost is low. The case stated that the sales generated from Carl’s client would