One of the coolest things about working at Socialtext is the openness leadership has with the company as a whole. One example of this in action is the company face to face meeting, where our CEO drove a conversation about venture capital, appropriate goals for a VC backed startup, the implications for stock and stock option ownership. As I watched the room during the discussion, it struck me that this sort of continuing education is valuable in developing future leadership in an entrepreneurial society.
Enter Ross Mayfield’s blog post I read (and he composed) while present in the company face to face about what he calls “Stockcamp”. Since stock ownership is a key driver in silly valley, an unconference for startup stockholders would be a great idea. Extending it to include future startup leaders would be neat also, as there would be some neat synergy in getting together entrepreneurs and people who would work for them in hallway chatter. Three distinct topic areas off the top of my head (and typical questions) are:
Stock and Stock Options
What are the tax implications of stock option ownership?
When is the best time to exercise vested options?
What kinds of stock grants are typical for positions like mine?
What are the implications for foreign workers vesting options?
What are additional grants?
Funding
What’s the difference between angels and venture capital?
What should you look for in an angel?
What should you look for in a VC?
What funding rounds do companies usually go through, and why?
How do I mitigate friction between different investors?
What’s a term sheet and what does one look like?
VCs fund people they’ve worked with before – how do I break in?
What motivates angel and VC behavior?
Operations
How do I structure the organization?
What are common mistakes entrepreneurs make?
What kinds of partners should I look for?
What kinds of people should I hire?
How do I attract the right kinds of people?
How do I find and negotiate the best office space lease terms?
How can I leverage community to build product awareness?
There’s a startup camp happening in March in the UK already focused on entrepreneurs only which is a great idea. I’d like to see it extended to include a wider audience here in silicon valley. Would you join a StartupCamp? Are there any key areas of interest I missed? Please join the conversation below..
Eric Gonzalez 
Having worked with many venture capitalists in marketing their portfolio companies and their firms over the years, I think there would be enormous benefit in this type of education. Inviting in attorneys and accountants would be also very helpful. Having more information in one place would be powerful.
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