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>>> VCs make their money from outlier companies, so the competent ones don't optimize for worst-case outcomes. You'll never see a dirty term sheet (e.g. liquida
by TuringNYC 1y ago
>>> VCs make their money from outlier companies, so the competent ones don't optimize for worst-case outcomes. You'll never see a dirty term sheet (e.g. liquidation preference > 1x) from Sequoia, for example, because they don't return 8x on a fund by squeezing pennies out of failed startups.
Serious question -- if you are right, then why hide the cap tables?! Typically cap tables are even hidden from employees who have millions of theoretical dollars riding on the company.
Transparency is usually an indicator of above-board terms, and opaque things are usually opaque for a reason.
- FreakLegion 1y agoThe cap table is just a spreadsheet of who owns what. Employees don't need to see that level of detail to understand their shares, so there's no particular reason to pass it around, and plenty of reasons not to. Many startups are happy to give relevant details, though, like the percentage of fully diluted shares you own, the last preferred share price, whether any investors got non-standard terms, etc. Rather than asking to see the cap table, ask the questions you want the cap table to answer. If they won't tell you, maybe pass on working there.