EP 63 – How to screw up your startup: 5 human mistakes with Dr. Sven Greulich

EP 63 –  How to screw up your startup: 5 human mistakes with Dr. Sven Greulich

Episode Stream

 

Biography

Learn from legal expert Dr. Sven Greulich how to avoid typical founder pitfalls!  

In episode 63, we are excited to introduce Dr. Sven Greulich to you, who elaborates on the main pitfalls the Orrick Legal Ninja Series identified. To give you a little insight, here are the first two problems discussed: 

  1. Not thinking about founder team dynamics and founder departures 
  2. Creating an unreflect equity split 

There will always be conflicts which arise throughout the founding process. Whether those occur because you believe in deserving more equity, since you had the founding idea, or you are struggling to retain good talent, informing yourself will give you a kick start! 

 Listen to the episode to avoid falling into these common pitfalls. 

 

Chapters:

(0:40) Gerrit Introduction 

(1:50) F*ck ups founders can do 

(3:29) Not thinking about team dynamics and founder departures  

(5:00) Founders don’t think about team dynamics enough 

(8:10) Gerrit, did you have a vesting agreement? 

(10:30) Gerrit’s two main key take aways when founding with friends 

(13:51) How do you feel when two best friends come and want to found together, Sven? 

(16:05) Sven, should the equity split decision be equal? 

(22:39) Gerrit’s take on the typical WHU equity split 

(23:30) Sven, do you help founders with the equity discussion? 

(25:30) Startups originating from German technical universities  

(28:00) Sven, do you have conversations with the Professors to tell them they want too much equity? 

(30:15) Sven, how do you give founders advice dealing with situations? 

(33:15) What kind of mistakes do you see, Sven, when startups come to you with participation programs? 

(38:37) Startups need to have a long-term perspective 

(40:02) Startups should attract talent just as they maintain talent 

(41:50) Gerrit, how did you deal with this kind of complexity in participation programs  

(43:00) What is a bad leaver? 

(50:00) Should you define bad leavers? 

(53:20) Should you invest as a person or have a holding entity? 

(57:20) Should you set up a new holding just for everyone’s individual shares?  

(59:20) Thank you from Dries!