Slicing Pie:the Game
The benefits of a dynamic equity split are painfully obvious once you understand the basic concept. However, if you don’t understand the basic concept you will keep making bad mistakes with a fixed equity program. To help people of all ages better understand how dynamic splits work, I have created a board game that takes players through the ups and downs of starting a company from start-up to sale in only a few short minutes! My original plan was to use the game in the entrepreneurship classes that I teach, but even my kids have...
read moreSlicing Pie for the Small Business Centr
See a complete overview of Slicing Pie and how to implement your very own Grunt Fund. Mike Moyer, the author of Slicing Pie, presents the concept for the Small Business Center.
read moreGrunt-Fund Friendly Lawyers
Please contact me if you would like to be connected with a lawyer who understands how to implement a dynamic equity split. If you are a lawyer who understands how to implement a dynamic equity split please contact me so I can add you to my list!
read moreAdvisory Board Member Letter
When inviting a Grunt to join an Advisory Board for a company using a Grunt Fund care must be taken to set expectations about compensation. It’s important that they understand how a Grunt Fund works and that they are not entitled to cash compensation. Click below to download a sample Advisory Board Member letter for a company using a Grunt Fund. ...
read moreDilution is not a Four-Letter Word
Few events strike as much fear in the hearts of start-up investors as dilution. Many go through great lengths to include anti-dilution clauses that protect the specific percent share of a company that they signed up for. If they buy or earn 10% of a company then they want to keep 10% of the company, often with little thought to the underlying value of the company. Dilution, however, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, dilution can be a great sign that your company is growing and doing the right things. Dilution is a natural adjustment in...
read moreTime Tracking
There are a lot of time-tracking tools available online. Many of them will work just fine. I’ve tried a number of them and I like Harvest (GetHarvest.com) the best. It is easy to use and tracks both time and expenses. It is an invoicing program. When you generate an invoice the time log is locked which will help you avoid the mistake of double-booking time. Most of these programs are overpriced. Harvest is $5/month/person. This can add up when you have a large team, but I spend the money because it saves a lot of time vs. Excel. It...
read moreRetrofitting a Grunt Fund- New Chapter Sneak Preview!
If you have already launched your business chances are good that you have already implemented a fixed split that is causing some angst among the founders. You now need to unwind your fixed split so you can get on the right track with your equity. This will require you to retrofit the Grunt Fund. Retrofitting a Grunt Fund is fairly easy as long as everyone is willing to cooperate. Getting Buy-In from the Herd The first thing you will need to do is get everyone on board with the program by helping them see the benefit of a dynamic equity split...
read moreIdeas and Intellectual Property- New Section Sneak Preview!
There are two ways to reward Grunts for business-enabling ideas and related Intellectual property: The first is to calculate the theoretical value of the idea and the second is to provide an ongoing royalty payment (cash or pie) to the inventor. It’s important to remember that ideas without action are relatively valueless, no matter how good the idea is. In the start-up world, a dozen ideas will cost about a dime, less the cost of the lunch over which the ideas were generated. Generally, ideas should not be taken into account in a Grunt Fund...
read moreNew Cartoon for v1.3
I’m working on version 1.3 right now, the main update deals with the “idea premium”. A number of people can’t get over the fact that I don’t value ideas. I do value certain ideas without which the business wouldn’t be possible. So, now there is a way to calculate the value of an idea… … I’m also going to update the cartoon at the end of the book. Below is a sneak preview, let me know if you think this one is funnier! This Grunt Fund thing looks pretty good, but I’m still going to...
read moreThe Idea Premium
It is quite common for founders who originated the idea to fret over their ability to “get a little extra” for coming up with the idea for the business. Without the idea that people can rally around it’s hard to inspire people to action. In the book I don’t provide pie for ideas unless they are “baked”. A baked idea has some work behind it and sometimes some real expenses. In these cases the person who brings the intellectual property can get a little extra when you account for the theoretical value of the idea and the associated...
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