One critical way to protect you and your company should one of the founders leave a startup is to always have vesting provisions on founder shares.
The funding was structured as a loan convertible to Zipcar equity once the company's valuation was established in its first venture-capital fundraising round.There are several steps that you can take when first starting your company to make the departure of a co-founder easier to deal with down the road. Instead, the woman turned to her husband and said, "What do you think, honey? Should we invest $50,000 in Chase's company?" They became Zipcar's first funders. In February, she had one Sloan classmate and her husband over for dinner, hoping for a little advice. Chase began talking up Zipcar to alumni, businesses, environmental groups, and her local networks. It was time to build the reservation and car security technology and to lease the initial cars, which meant time to raise money. The winning tagline was: "Wheels when you want them." Chase also tested another small pack of 3x5 cards with five slogans. About 40% of consumers disliked the word "sharing." Also, that URL was taken, with the site owner willing to sell only if he could receive a 10% stake in the company. Wheelshare made people think of "wheelchair." U.S. Then, saying nothing about the planned business idea, she'd ask people what thoughts each name evoked. Wherever she was -n coffee shops, in the bank line, at her children's swim meets - she would get out her cards. Chase wrote the names on 3x5" cards and started taking consumer polls.
But the website URLs for many early favorites were already taken.Įventually the list narrowed to five, three of which were notable: Wheelshare, U.S. You should absolutely do it,'" Chase recounts.įinding the right name for the business involved considering dozens of potential names. "And she said, 'Are you kidding? You could make more money and save so many children's lives if this succeeded. Her daughter knew the family donated some of what it made to children's causes. Chase explained how successful the company could be, and how car sharing might positively impact the planet, but that it would likely mean round-the-clock work hours for a while. The answer came from her 12-year-old daughter, who noticed mom's quiet mood and cornered her in the kitchen one night. For several days she "moped and mulled" around the house, wondering what to do. You've got to scale it up by a factor of three.' We were really shaken by it."Īpparently, the car sharing business wouldn't fulfill Chase's dream of launching a small start-up she could fit around family responsibilities. Chase recalls, "He said, 'Your business plan is way too slow. Instead, he told the women their idea was too big for Cambridge. The pair expected Urban to poke holes in their model, or to say Americans wouldn't take to car sharing. Related: How Became a Multimillion-Dollar Business
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