After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned:
1. Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck.
2. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge.
3. Real, actionable advice comes from those who’ve actually done it.
There’s no such thing as “founder DNA.” If you’re willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off — less if you’re a woman or person of color — you can be a startup founder.
Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale:
1. To help founders make fewer mistakes.
2. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey.
3. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. There’s a lot of overlooked talent out there, and we are missing out.
This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business.
I’m talking to guests about everything: finding a co-founder, conducting customer discovery, recruiting early employees, developing a PLG strategy, fundraising when you’re outside a major tech hub — all of it.
Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on all major platforms and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more.
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After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned:
1. Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck.
2. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge.
3. Real, actionable advice comes from those who’ve actually done it.
There’s no such thing as “founder DNA.” If you’re willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off — less if you’re a woman or person of color — you can be a startup founder.
Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale:
1. To help founders make fewer mistakes.
2. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey.
3. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. There’s a lot of overlooked talent out there, and we are missing out.
This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business.
I’m talking to guests about everything: finding a co-founder, conducting customer discovery, recruiting early employees, developing a PLG strategy, fundraising when you’re outside a major tech hub — all of it.
Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on all major platforms and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more.
Cap Table Strategy: A Playbook for Early-Stage Founders
Fund/Build/Scale
38 minutes 44 seconds
3 months ago
Cap Table Strategy: A Playbook for Early-Stage Founders
When you’re raising your first rounds, every cap table decision can echo for years. Give away too much equity early, lock yourself into restrictive pro rata rights, or over-optimize for valuation — and you may find yourself boxed in just when your company starts to grow.
Pulley co-founder and CEO Yin Wu has seen these mistakes firsthand. In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, she offers practical, founder-first strategies for structuring and managing your cap table so you can attract top talent, keep your options open, and stay in control of your startup’s destiny.
We also discuss how to compete with entrenched incumbents, why her LinkedIn profile says she works in Customer Success, and how founders can shift their role as the company scales.
RUNTIME 38:44
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:46) Why her LinkedIn profile says she’s in “customer success,” not CEO/co-founder.
(5:43) How much time passed between Day Zero and serving Pulley’s first customer?
(9:48) “ You're trying to market the product, and then you're also playing the role of customer success at the same time.”
(10:04) The number-one cap table mistake founders make? “Being too greedy.”
(13:55) Why are startups sticking with four-year vesting schedules when it takes 7-10 years to exit?
(15:14) How founders should think about pro rata rights in early rounds.
(19:04) Taking money out in a secondary “ actually releases some of the pressure and allows founders to focus.”
(21:04) Founder-preferred shares “are becoming increasingly popular.”
(24:15) CEO/founders need to remember “ the soft power that you have as a leader of the company.”
(26:45) How Yin defines “founder mode.”
(30:50) “ Every successful company has been a response to some incumbent’s worldview.”
(33:38) Why going public “ can actually make it tough for companies to be able to innovate.”
(34:04) The one question she’d ask the CEO if she were interviewing for a job with an early-stage startup.
LINKS
Yin Wu
Pulley
How to Scale a Startup in Just 3 Months, Pulley
Employee Equity, Sam Altman
Will the Blockbuster Deal for Wiz Spur an M&A Wave in Cybersecurity?, WSJ Pro VC
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Thanks for listening!
– Walter.
Fund/Build/Scale
After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned:
1. Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck.
2. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge.
3. Real, actionable advice comes from those who’ve actually done it.
There’s no such thing as “founder DNA.” If you’re willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off — less if you’re a woman or person of color — you can be a startup founder.
Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale:
1. To help founders make fewer mistakes.
2. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey.
3. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. There’s a lot of overlooked talent out there, and we are missing out.
This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business.
I’m talking to guests about everything: finding a co-founder, conducting customer discovery, recruiting early employees, developing a PLG strategy, fundraising when you’re outside a major tech hub — all of it.
Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on all major platforms and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more.
