Fundraising can already be a daunting task for startup founders. A disorganized cap table can compound the difficulty, creating confusion, causing investor hesitation, and significantly slowing down an otherwise promising raise.
On July 15th, the upcoming TechCrunch All Stage conference in Boston will tackle this issue head-on with a special roundtable session titled, “Preparing to Raise: Cap Table Best Practices to Help You Close Fast.” During this discussion on the Foundation Stage, attendees will gain critical insights from experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and finance experts about what it really takes to maintain an investor-ready cap table.
Leading the conversation are three accomplished professionals with extensive fundraising experience from multiple perspectives—legal, financial, and entrepreneurial.
Lynne Zagami, Vice President of Customer Success at Fidelity Private Shares, brings deep expertise in corporate law and equity management, having guided numerous startups through structured, successful raises. Her firsthand experience equips her with valuable insights on how startups can effectively organize their equity structures to impress investors.
Joining Zagami is Darrell West, Co-Founder and CFO at DepositLink. West offers more than four decades of financial, accounting, and investing experience, including roles with Goldman Sachs and Coopers & Lybrand and extensive operations across sub-Saharan Africa. West’s wealth of international capital management experience allows him to highlight essential compliance and financial diligence aspects critical for quick fundraising.
Rounding out the panel is John Andrews, CEO of Cimulate and a former VP of Product Innovation at Nike, who lends the founder’s perspective. Andrews has been through the fundraising and acquisition trenches himself and understands deeply the challenging operational realities startups face when raising capital and scaling efficiently.
This focused discussion aims to give participants practical knowledge on several key topics: achieving a clean, investor-friendly cap table; identifying and preparing crucial documents and metrics for smooth diligence; avoiding costly legal pitfalls and negotiation obstacles; and planning effectively to ensure agility during fundraising processes.
Startup founders attending the session can expect to leave the event equipped with actionable insights that not only streamline their future funding rounds but also position their company advantageously when opportunities arise.
