Ask HN: Which bootstrappers have sold equity to take some chips off the table?

8 points by jpdpeters 4y ago ↗ HN

I am trying to compile a list of bootstrapped founders who have sold equity in their startup not to finance the company, but to simply pocket the cash.

One example here could be the founders of Basecamp, Jason & DHH, who sold a minority stake to Jeff Bezos back in the day to make sure they have something to show for in case the business failed.

There appear to be many founders of VC-backed startups who do this in later funding rounds, but I am trying to understand if this is also something in the world of bootstrappers as well.

5 comments

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plasma 4y ago ↗

I remember reading Buffer took investment on their blog, and the team took money off the table as part of the deal.

jpdpeters 4y ago ↗

Thanks!

manbackharry 4y ago ↗

1Password recently did this with their $200MM Series A raise in 2019. Dave Teare talks about taking the majority of the money raised off the table when he spoke with DHH on an episode of the Rework podcast -https://www.rework.fm/venture-capital-and-control-with-david...

jpdpeters 4y ago ↗

Amazing, thanks for letting me know!

braincrash 4y ago ↗

Looks like Brian Halligan of Hubspot sold in each funding round [0] and the founders of Fiverr Micha Kaufman and Shai Wininger sold $600k of shares to BVP [1].

[0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/kb4822/comment/gfe...

[1]: https://www.bvp.com/memos/fiverr