The Art of Finding a Co-Founder | Ask A VC with Paul Lee

Lightbank's Paul Lee gives advice for entrepreneurs outside of Silicon Valley who are looking to partner with someone on an idea. He also talks about how founders should structure salaries for themselves and employees at the early stage.
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With a different VC in the hot seat every week, Ask a VC answers the best reader questions -- from advice for new entrepreneurs to insight into international startups. Find more episodes here: goo.gl/yxSfI

[@JosephProsnitz1]

How do you reference an article and not link it in the description

[@ronque23]

Thanks for this video! I’m wondering do you make potential cofounders sign NDAs? It seems like the cons outweigh the pros in terms of practicality. Thx

[@elderhomeshare528]

Super love it thank you!

[@DannyDee143]

Cheers Paul, I agree - the salary should def be sub 60k.

[@wynton921]

Someone help me understand.... it seems obvious, but wouldn’t the CEO also earn money from the equity he or she owns every quarter along with the salary?

[@SeriousBlank]

If the company is making profits, a CEO can distribute these profits (dividends) among shareholders, but that doesn't always happen in reality because:
1. Startups take a long time to be profitable (up to 5-10 years).
2. Majority of CEOs choose to reinvest profits into the company to accelerate growth.

[@joshuas.6245]

it took 1:30 for her to INTERVIEW another person

[@LeveragedAlpha]

She needed to set the context of his background...

[@ozzyfromspace]

founders shouldn't have salaries above $150k at the series A level? lol I was expecting $40k max. Lol I'm clearly in a different world rn. To be fair, I'm a 24 yr old guy with no kids and minimal responsibility, maybe other people need the money, we're all different.

[@ronque23]

I live in NYC so I was thinking I could get by on $75K! Who are these CEOs that need $150K right out the gate???!!!

[@ashisrath4428]

@@ronque23 Do you run a startup?

[@jfmiller_]

@@ronque23 wait but he means $150K yearly or monthly?

[@fmezy]

@@jfmiller_ daily

[@ronnieyap1001]

too much "ermm "...

[@passableespresso5068]

Yet hes 100x more successful than u

[@warmpi]

??? he was very well spoken. very natural. I'd be curious to see if you could do any better

[@TheYourprofile]

It’s called thinking before you speak

[@theshark84724]

At 2:15 he says the idea plays a very small part of it and it’s the execution that’s key. Ok, I have an idea of putting hair on an ant. Excite that. Idiot. The idea is pretty damn important. If execution is far more important, than give me some good dude who just got out of a 6 year prison sentence. That’s someone who knows how to execute.

[@koios3]

You didn't get his point. Ideas are dime a dozen. I work at a VC fund and 100s of startup reach out to us for funding. Out of 1000 ideas, 100 are interesting, and only 1 of them have the team to execute it. That's where execution is more important from idea comes from.