4 ms·
It's closer to Levie. It's very rare for founders to be able to maintain strong control of their company through multiple funding rounds.
by avree 13y ago
It's closer to Levie. It's very rare for founders to be able to maintain strong control of their company through multiple funding rounds.
- _delirium 13y agoIt's not too common, but larger amounts aren't unprecedented: two big ones that had even larger ownership were Microsoft (Gates still held 49% of Microsoft at the time of IPO) and Amazon (Bezos & family held 52%, with Bezos himself holding 42%). The Google founders also owned a combined 32% (16% each). Those companies were rather more successful than Box, though.
- mckee1 13y agoI think that's generally the rule. The more successful the startup, the larger the stake the founder maintains due to being in a better position in regards to VC rounds.
- oijaf888 13y agoHad Microsoft raised much funding before the IPO?
- Tloewald 13y agoMicrosoft had so much cash lying around they were using t-bills (or some other kind of bond) as bookmarks (don't remember which Gates bio I read that in -- Hard Drive maybe). When Microsoft IPOed it was basically owned by its founders. It never wanted for cash.
- tanzam75 13y agoThe only VC with an investment in Microsoft was David Marquardt's Technology Venture Investors. At the IPO, TVI owned 6.1% of Microsoft. The remaining 93.9% belonged to the founders, the Board, the employees, and friends and family. Everyone listed on the S-1, with one exception, took a bit off the top but held on to most of their shares. The one exception was Bill Gates's sister's trust fund, which owned 20,000 shares -- 0.1% of the company. She could've been a hundred-millionaire if she'd held on to it, but her trustee sold it for $400,000 and moved on.