The 4 Numbers That Decide Whether You Raise or Bootstrap
Four figures — gross margin, payback period, CAC-to-LTV ratio, and growth rate against market speed — decide whether outside capital helps or merely rents your equity.
Lena Fischer
How to Calculate Your Runway and Burn Rate Without Fooling Yourself
Runway is cash in the bank divided by average monthly net burn — and the number that matters is the one that accounts for the invoices you have not paid yet, not the balance your banking app shows.
Khalid Okonkwo
What a SAFE Actually Commits You To Before Your Series A
Post-money SAFEs make your dilution calculable the day you sign — and stack it all onto founders at the priced round. Here is the math, the paperwork, and what to check first.
Owen BlackwoodAnalysis & Opinion
What the 83(b) Election Actually Does, and Why 30 Days Is Absolute
The election trades a small tax bill today for a fixed measuring date on founder stock — and the statute gives you 30 days from transfer, with no general power for the IRS to forgive a late filing.
How to Run a Four-Day Week Without Losing Output
What the published four-day-week trials actually measured, the five scheduling models companies used, and the redesign work that has to happen before you remove the day.
What a SAFE Actually Commits You To
A SAFE isn't stock and it isn't debt — here's what triggers conversion, what it doesn't guarantee, and where founders get dilution wrong.
How a SAFE Actually Works: Cap, Discount, and Conversion
The one-document contract Y Combinator built in 2013 now covers a record 93% of pre-seed deals, per Carta — here is what its terms actually commit a founder to.
Startups
More in Startups →How to Calculate Your Startup's Cash Runway (and Not Get It Wrong)
Runway sounds like simple math until a founder counts the wrong number as burn. Here's the actual formula, what belongs in it, and how much cushion is realistic.
Owen BlackwoodStrategy
More in Strategy →How a SAFE Actually Works: The Cap, the Discount, the Trigger
A SAFE lets you take a check today without setting a valuation today. Here's what the cap, the discount, and the conversion trigger actually commit you to.
Khalid OkonkwoStartup News
More in Startup News →The FTC's Non-Compete Ban Was Struck Down — What That Actually Means for Hiring
A Texas federal court set aside the FTC's nationwide non-compete ban in August 2024, leaving enforcement to state law — which means the rules differ completely depending on where your employee sits.
Priya Vaithilingam