Raises can be a full time job for 3-6 months, but you can save a lot of time by doing it the right way. Streamline early stage capital raising with our Capital Raising Toolkit. Sharing is caring!
We've created the ultimate guide to help employees understand their ESOPs. We explain the value of your offer, vocabulary used, and outline the whole process from start to finish. If you're hiring, we recommend you share this guide with your new hires. Sharing is caring!
We've created the ultimate guide for founders wanting to get started with Employee Stock Option Plans. You'll get the recipe for success and learn the best-practice standards for ESOPs globally and in your country. Class is in session.
How do you prepare for a capital raise? What documents do you need? And how long will a capital raise take? We’ve set out the main steps required and major issues to consider when preparing for a raise.
To have an effective global talent acquisition process, you'll need to stand out from your competition. Here are our tips to help you catch the eyes of top global talent.
Everything you need to know to raise capital for your startup for the first time — from projections to documentation, helpful software, best sources, & beyond.
It's crucial for today's businesses to adopt diversity, creativity, and innovation as a strategic medium of growth and expansion. Combine rampant globalisation with a competitive market for talent acquisition, sprinkle in the uptake of remote work and you've got the recipe for why we're seeing the shift to hiring internationally.
Wondering how to create a cap table? This quick and easy guide has 3 top options — and everything else you need to know about tracking your company's equity position.
Managing your startup in an economic downturn is like riding a roller coaster. There are ups and downs, surprises, celebrations, and disappointments. Here are some things you can do now to ride the wave of an economic downturn and keep your startup afloat.
Sharing options can be a great motivator for employees, but how much of your ESOP cake should you share? No two companies are the same, so it is important to specifically consider a variety of factors, including your own staff, and your plans for the next few years...
Cake customer Crowded has had significant traction since launch in the US in 2021. With Cake’s cap table and ESOP tools, founder Daniel can access to the relevant stakeholders like accountants, lawyers, investors and employees, without being hassled endlessly for information, and issue options to over 16 employees, seamlessly.
Finding the best ESOP management tools doesn't have to be so hard. See how the top 9 compare with our comprehensive guide.
Securing venture capital is considered the holy grail of funding for early stage and scaling startups. But what is venture capital? And who are the mysterious ‘venture capitalists’ guarding this precious fountain of abundance? And how can you get their attention?
Getting anyone to part with their money for a pre-seed or seed stage company is no easy feat. But angel investors bring their their knowledge, networks and cash, which can be invaluable when it comes to growing your business quickly. So how can you find them?
An Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) is a special type of ESOW that gives employees or advisors the right to purchase shares in the company at a predefined price within a specific time period. Generally, ESOPs are the most popular method of granting employee ownership for startup companies. So let's get into why.
Cake Superuser Jamie Davison works as CFO for multiple companies and uses Cake’s products for everything from capital raising, onboarding new investors and ESOP set up and administration. That's having your cake and eating it too!
When you want to grant equity (or ownership) to an employee or contractor, the best way to do it is often through an employee share scheme (ESS) or an employee share ownership plan (ESOP). But what is the difference between an ESOP and an ESS? And why would you use an ESOP instead of an ESS?
Before you get to the negotiating table, your job is to build an airtight case for your startup to get the investors to buy into your vision. Learn more about the items an investor looks for when making an investment decision to help you put your best foot forward.
Receiving a slice of the cake, means sharing in ownership of the company. What could be more exciting and motivating than knowing your hard work could exponentially increase your own personal wealth? It’s pretty delicious.
In order to turn your options into stocks, you'll eventually need to 'exercise your options'. No, this doesn't mean they need to hit the gym. We've summarised the answers to the questions we hear most often for you here!
If you’re a startup founder, you’ve probably heard the terms Share Option Scheme more times than you’ve had to pivot your business model. If it’s left you scratching your head, Cake Equity is here to help you understand how Employee Option Schemes work, in collaboration with our expert legal partners, Sprintlaw UK.
A cap table is a living breathing document that changes every time you give equity to employees or contractors via an ESOP, sell shares in your company or distribute equity in any way - so it’s incredibly important to make sure it’s up to date at all times. If your cap table is in order, business decisions are made easier for you.
Founders often query how large their cap table should be. How many investors is too many? We break down the complex topic of growing cap tables - read on to discover strategies to keep your cap table tidy and agile, or to clean it up if it’s already spun out of control.
Work from home can have its perks, but some companies are still struggling to stem the tide of employee burnout that’s directly tied to remote working conditions. Here are our top tips for keeping remote teams happy and engaged, wherever they may be.
Hundreds of millions are estimated to be sitting in long-forgotten accounts in Australia, just waiting to be collected. How are these assets separated from their owners in the first place, and what can you do if you think you have unclaimed shares?
The UK has incredible tax relief schemes but if founders don’t know about them and haven’t made their businesses eligible, guess what? Investors can lose interest, fast. The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) are the two schemes you need to get your head around ASAP.
People are quitting in record numbers around the world. Here's what you can do to avoid the pains of ‘The Great Resignation’ at your company and keep your talent from heading out the door.
The story of Ziinkle, a next-gen dating app success story that used a crowdfunding campaign on Birchal to raise over double their minimum target, all while using Cake to manage their cap raise.
We're thrilled to have contributed to the inaugural State of Australian Startup Funding report produced by our partners Folklore and Cut Through Venture. The first of its kind, this comprehensive report looks into the key trends and issues shaping Australia's startup funding landscape.
Mystified by 409a Valuations? Find out what they are, if you’re going to need one to offer equity and how to get one. Easy!
Mystified by Vesting? Let us simplify: Vesting refers to the process by which the Option holder earns full rights to their Options, to allow them to be converted to stocks.
So you’ve bootstrapped your way to some investment and need to hire a team to build a juggernaut. Startups face an array of challenges when it comes to recruiting - limited funds, saturated job markets, you name it - but we've got then secret sauce to help you attract and retain top talent. Read on.
So what does it all mean? We've created a glossary of key employee ownership and equity terms so you can walk the walk and talk the talk.
Studies show that companies and businesses of many kinds often have a slow start to business during January. And then in February, it’s pretty much go time. So we’ve got till February, you say? Hold up now. This doesn’t mean it’s time to kick back, and it also doesn’t mean you should quadruple your ad spend to try and make up for standard fluctuations.
If you have talented people on your team, now is an important time to make sure they will stick around. While it is true that there may be a lot of applicants for jobs in a recession, it doesn’t mean that it will be easy to replace talent.
We're proposing a new SAFE inspired by the YC template, but shaped for fundraising in the Australian context with upgrades from what we’ve learnt. We plan to remove these issues and add some improvement to create a new Australian SAFE that will benefit both founders and investors.
If you are looking to embark on a new business venture, one of the first decisions you will need to make is how to structure your company. This is the first of many strategic decisions you will need to make.
Employee stock option plans (ESOPs) can be one of the best ways to incentivise and reward your team.
The Shareholders Agreement is the document that sets out the ongoing relationship between the Company and its Shareholders. Generally, a Shareholders Agreement will sit alongside the company Constitution, and will often prevail where there are any inconsistency.
How do you prepare for a capital raise? What documents do you need? And how long will a capital raise take?
When you hear the term “investor update”, what comes to mind? Numbers and dollar figures? Financial models and forecasts? Standard comments on the state of the economy? While it’s important for companies to share this information with its shareholders (and just as important that the shareholders read it), it doesn’t mean it will always be a great experience.
In short, a Convertible Note is a way to raise through a mixture of debt (a loan) and equity (giving away shares).
Here at Cake, we’ve been adjusting to the new norm of full time work-from-home (WFH) life.
Businesses worldwide have been forced to change that meeting from ‘room T36’ to, well, your living room, The ‘virtual’ meeting, remote working, and laptops on the lap, have become the new norm.
An Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP) is a method of granting equity in a business to an employee over a period of time. It's really as simple as it sounds – the employee receives options (or rights) to be granted real shares in the business, as long as they comply with the rules of the ESOP (Plan Rules).
So you’ve started a business, and it’s starting to gain some traction. Customers are raving, client lists are building and your product is, well, actually working pretty well! These are all good things, and things that you should be very proud of. However, from here, the next step can be a crucial decision for the future of your business.