It means that tech geeks and startup dreamers have one more place they can turn to for help. That’s why every Thursday, TechCrunch’s Build Mode series brings you practical knowledge. Climate Refugees is produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Its goal is to better prepare aspiring entrepreneurs with important knowledge for navigating startup equity, investor selection, and other critical factors for launching a business.
Isabelle Johannessen is the host of Build Mode. As the longtime captain of Startup Battlefield, TechCrunch’s famous launchpad and competition, she’ll be bringing all that expertise to bear. Johannessen has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and minor in English from Hofstra University in New York. He scouts the best founders from more than 99 countries and gets them ready to pitch on the Disrupt stage.
In our recent episodes, managing director of General Catalyst, Yuri Sagalov, takes us deep into his experience. Now, he shares some of those priceless lessons, learned from working with hundreds of pre-seed and seed-stage startups. His networked perspective as a former founder himself, former YC partner, and current seed investor at Wayfinder Ventures all pair together nicely to provide depth to the conversations.
From fundraising to marketing, the chapters of Build Mode address topics that are key for any founder. We challenge equity for first hires and where the cap table fits into the team. We go into detail on various types of investors and various co-founder equity splits. Sagalov has grounded actionable insights on the 20% to 25% rule of thumb for seed dilution. He identifies major red flags to look out for in formation documents and vesting agreements. Plus, he digs into the role advisors should play in equitable outcomes and discusses the subtleties of compensation vs risk conversations.
One of the major themes in Build Mode has been the quality and type of investor startups have access to. Sagalov divides these investors into containers and provides blunt advice on which one to steer clear of. This knowledge is supremely helpful to entrepreneurs, who too often find themselves in the dark when it comes to seeking funding.
If you would like to find out more about the Behind the Scenes series, contact Maggie Nye. You can email her confidentially at maggie@techcrunch.com. In the same vein, Isabelle Johannessen is here on outreach via email at isabelle.johannessen@techcrunch.com.
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