Properly modeling your startup's churn is crucial to a full-picture financial model and will help you better understand your current growth trajectory. The post All Startups Have Churn and Will Benefit From Modeling It Well appeared first on Gust ..read more

There are few humans on earth better suited to help you navigate startup issues than Gil Silberman. In addition to being the legal mind behind Gust Launch, Gil has the distinction of being the lawyer who incorporated LinkedIn, co-founding a unicorn (Forge Global), helping countless startups navigate from 0 to 1, and being a leading candidate for most interesting man in the world. The post 25 Things a First-Time Founder Should Know appeared first on Gust ..read more

California has some of the strongest employee protections in the U.S., and often sets a precedent for regulations enacted elsewhere. But, California's employment laws can also be complex, because they change and evolve from year to year, often in nuanced ways. The post California Employment Liability Trends for Tech Startups appeared first on Gust ..read more

Understanding your startup's metrics is like having a GPS for your business journey. It helps you navigate challenges, make informed decisions, and steer your company towards success. The post Know Your Numbers: The Ultimate Guide to Data-Driven Success for Startups appeared first on Gust ..read more

Are you producing and distributing regular company updates to your network? Here's why you should... The post The Quick Guide to Company Updates appeared first on Gust ..read more

Today, we're talking financial models and projections; specifically, the perspectives you need to be  considering to build something accurate for operations and compelling for fundraising. The post Financial Modeling – Top Down or Bottom Up? appeared first on Gust ..read more

Yielding 10x growth or more, known as “hockey-stick growth,” remains the goal for many investors. But only one percent of startups become unicorns; in fact, most VC-backed companies don’t reach their expected rate of return. “That means 95% of founders—or more—are gonna have a bad time,” explains Rand Fishkin, the author of Lost and Founder, and co-founder of Moz and more recently of SparkToro. The gulf between expectations and how things play out can be substantial. However, that doesn’t have to fuel fights among stakeholders who are—at the end of the day—all on the same team. The post What t ..read more

Investors prefer investing in Delaware C Corps which don’t allow founders to take personal tax losses for early expenses. Many founders are tempted to make an S-Corp election which allows a pass-through tax treatment similar to an LLC. While that could be a small short term gain in the early days, it can jeopardize a much larger tax free gain in the future ($10M+) . Most typical startups should avoid tinkering with their tax treatment; if it really seems important it is best to tap in a professional. The post The Misleading Attractiveness of S Corp Elections appeared first on Gust ..read more

Some very small businesses—particularly those that offer the professional or personal services of a single individual—can be launched and grown with few or no resources other than human time and talent. But most businesses require some money before they can be started—to pay for software, buy tools or equipment, lease office space, or pay for the time worked by employees or outside contractors. Since most entrepreneurs are not independently wealthy, and since, as we saw in Chapter 13, banks won’t lend money to startups, it is often necessary to raise funds by exchanging an ownership interest i ..read more

It’s Delaware Franchise Tax Season! If you’re incorporated in Delaware and you’re staring at a terrifying notice with the number $85,165.00 on it, don’t panic. It’s very likely that your startup only owes $400. Read on for details on how to refigure your bill, easily file your report, and reduce your stress in future years. The post Don’t Panic! Your pre-revenue startup doesn’t owe $85,165 in Delaware Franchise Taxes appeared first on Gust ..read more