StartupClass by YCombinator:
Kirsty Nathoo (Ycombinator CFO) & Caroline Levy (General Counsel) are talking about the boring stuff that happens in a startup. Legal, Accounting, Finance.
Key takeaways:
As a founder -- don't get lost in those details (you should care more about the product, hiring & fundraising)
Hire a good lawyer (for company setup, mistakes can be very costly)
If you're starting up in the US -- use a Delaware corporation (a requirement for all the YC funded companies)
Outsource payroll and related services (it's worth your money)
Hire a smart accountant (Always a good idea)
Don't give away board seats easily
Always try to have a balanced equity formula when it comes to the founders (every YC company has a balanced equity formula)
If your company shares are vested (which they should be) you're creating an incentive for yourself to put 150% in (same goes for employees w/ stock options)
A transcript can be found here. An annotated version can be found here on genius
