The Startup Solution

For the final episode of the first season of The Startup Solution, Heidi tackles what is, perhaps, the single most difficult thing an entrepreneur may ever have to do: wind down a company when it clearly just isn't working.

More information: https://www.threshold.vc/podcast/the-case-of-the-company-that-wasnot

Felicia's boardroom has become a battlefield due to the disruptive and even destructive behavior of one of her board members — but he is also one of her largest investors. Heidi lays out a variety of options for addressing this, including the nuclear one: how to unseat a board member who's causing problems.

More information: https://threshold.vc/podcast/the-case-of-the-boardzilla-board-member

Carl, a startup CEO, accidentally left a list of every employee's pay and equity in the printer. Soon enough, it was circulating on the company Slack. Heidi helps him understand that the most troubling thing exposed wasn't the payroll. It was the company's lack of a proper compensation philosophy.

More information: https://threshold.vc/podcast/the-case-of-the-exposed-compensation-file

In the process of closing her startup's first round of outside capital, CEO Claire hit a snag. One of her co-founders had already left the company, and his massive share position for only a year of work concerned the new investor. Heidi explains how to allocate founder shares fairly, and what can be done if you may have already done it differently.

More information: https://www.threshold.vc/podcast/the-case-of-the-deadweight-co-founder

Nate has a first-world problem: As VP of Engineering at a startup, he thought he'd become a millionaire when the company had its big exit — but he was crushed when he got only 5% of what he expected. Heidi helps Nate understand what likely went sideways, and what to consider the next time around.

More info: https://www.threshold.vc/millionaire

Heidi changes gears from recounting other entrepreneurs' challenges to share a story of her own from when she was the CEO of a software startup. Learn how a mishap with the office sprinkler system led to a reckoning about her company's culture.

More information: http://www.threshold.vc/podcast/the-case-of-the-soggy-software

Trent hits a crisis when his strategic investor lets their term sheet expire, and his $50 million round falls apart. Strategic investors are a huge part of the startup ecosystem but differ from regular VCs. Learn about the pros and cons of strategic investors, and how to craft a good deal for both sides.

More information: https://www.threshold.vc/podcast/the-case-of-the-strategic-sucker-punch

JJ, a Threshold Venture Fellow at Stanford, has in-laws who want to pull money from their retirement fund to participate in a "friends and family" allocation in JJ's seed round. Heidi sets JJ straight about the ins and outs of seed investing — and suggests at least one way to reward his in-laws for their support without putting them at risk.

More information: https://www.threshold.vc/podcast/the-case-of-the-in-law-investors

Founders often think of valuation as the grade at the top of the paper, which is why few things take an emotional toll like the prospect of a down round. When Ann's company is faced with just such a thing, Heidi explains that terms end up mattering more than valuation — and that a down round needn't be a downer.

More information: https://threshold.vc/podcast/the-case-of-the-downer-round/

When Priya informed her board that the company missed its quarterly sales target, she was met with a barrage of attacks. The real error wasn't the business shortfall — it was how she managed the situation. Learn how to avoid her mistakes.

More information: https://threshold.vc/podcast/the-case-of-the-boardroom-blow-up-1/