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Scoop! The robo-lawyer startup DoNotPay has paid more than $1 million to employees and investors in its first-ever dividend. Such a financial gesture is a novelty among startups because it requires them to have profits to distribute. DoNotPay was in a position to spread the wealth, its founder and chief executive Joshua Browder tells Business Insider. The company is profitable and has a sum on the balance sheet greater than the capital it's raised to date. Browder briefly considered a buyback, in which stakeholders sell their shares back to the company for cash. But, Browder said he didn't think he'd have any takers. The startup is just doing too well. "The only deal we could push through was one where we give them money for nothing in return," Browder said. Here, we get into buybacks versus dividends, the tax implications, and why dividends could become the norm for aging and profitable startups. https://lnkd.in/evJbjAMU

News: Nichole Wischoff and her VC firm Wischoff Ventures have raised $50 million for her third fund, more than doubling her previous. I spoke to the Nashville-based early-stage investor about overcoming a difficult childhood, going viral on social media and how she's backing startups in fintech and the "new supply chain" for Forbes. #venturecapital #VC #startups #investing #tech #technology #entrepreneurs #emergingmanagers #privateequity #founders

“You get energy from people you're helping and working with, and that makes a pretty good day, and for me, it came back to founders.” Check out the latest article in Forbes featuring our CEO and Co-Founder, Yin Wu. Learn about her startup journey from early tech days to launching Pulley 🙌 #startups #yc #foundersjourney #pulley

Fintech SaaS startup Zaggle’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) surged 716% to Rs 16.73 Cr in the quarter ended June 30, 2024 (Q1 FY25) from Rs 2.05 Cr in the year-ago period due to strong growth in its business. However, PAT declined over 12% on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis from Rs 19.16 Cr. 🚀 Join the startup revolution! Follow StartupTrak for the latest and hottest startup news, inspiring stories, and game-changing innovations! 💯❤️🔥 . . #Zaggle #Fintech #SaaS #PATSurge #ProfitGrowth #Q1FY25 #BusinessSuccess #FinancialResults #QuarterlyUpdate #TechStartup #FintechNews #BusinessGrowth #StartupNews #StartupTrak

Bootstrapping with ₹3000: How We Built AY Ventures from Scratch It was 2020 when my sister Abha Mishra and I started AY ventures with just ₹3000 in hand, not knowing where it would take us. We didn’t have investors lining up or capital to burn. Money was a real issue for us just as all the startup founders. So we had to be strategic, prioritizing revenue from day one. And later, our school friend Tony Sheldon joined to strengthen us more. We focused on earning, not spending. We didn't spend a rupee unless it drove us forward. Instead of splurging, we put every penny back into the business, making it sustainable from the start. Our early struggles made us uniquely empathetic to other startups. Every service we added—from pitch decks to financial planning—stemmed from one goal: “Helping early-stage founders secure the support they needed” With Abha's financial expertise, crafting financial plans became a core service. It made us efficient, precise, and helped our early clients like JJ Tax and Klassroom secure crucial funding. One thing that bootstrapping taught us is- Adaptability and Resilience! Instead of scaling too quickly, we added services based on real needs we saw in the market, building a stronger foundation each step of the way. The journey from ₹3000 to 44.7 Cr raised for startups has been challenging, rewarding, and incredibly humbling. We've built something we believe in—without heavy funding, but with a lot of grit, determination, and hard-learned lessons. And the journey continues. P.S. What’s the first amount you put in your startup? ------------------------------------------------------------- Want us to help you raise funding?  Fill out the form below:- ▶ https://lnkd.in/g94hNhYG

✨ Today In Tech #037 - June 13th 2024✨ 💡Topics💡 1️⃣ Company => Brex Abandons Co-CEO Model to Pursue More Traditional Company Structures 2️⃣ Company => Long-Time Android Vice President, Dave Burke, Steps Down to Explore AI/Bio Projects at Alphabet 3️⃣ Company => Waymo Issues Voluntary Recall of 672 Robotaxis After Collision with Telephone Pole 1️⃣ Company => Brex Abandons Co-CEO Model to Pursue More Traditional Company Structures 🛈 Source : https://lnkd.in/gU-G5_am Brex, a fintech startup founded in 2017, is shifting to a more traditional model of just one CEO at the helm. The San Francisco-based corporate credit card and expense management company will be led by Pedro Franceschi, who will become the sole CEO and Dubugras will become chairman of Brex's board. The co-founders started working together as co-founders of Brazilian payment processing startup "Pagar.me" in 2012, which ended up being acquired by Stone Pagamentos for "tens of millions of dollars." They decided to split their duties as external and internal co-CEOs, which worked well at that company. However, they believe that having two CEOs could be a bottleneck to the company's growth by keeping its leadership from making faster decisions. They also feel that when they eventually go public, something they don't anticipate doing until 2025 or later, investors will be more attracted to a traditional model of just one CEO running the company. Franceschi led the development of the company's core financial infrastructure from scratch, which the pair claim allowed Brex to have great margins and expand faster globally. He has led the entire organization over the last six years, helping it grow to more than 30,000 customers and a product suite that spans corporate cards, banking, expense management, travel, and bill pay. Some of its larger customers include DoorDash, Flexport, Roblox, Compass, and Shein, but the bulk of its revenue still comes from startups. Dubugras focused more on tasks such as fundraising, managing relationships with banking partners and regulators, and serving as the face of Brex "personally selling" to its largest customer. He insists he'll still be involved to the extent that the team wants and needs him involved. The company has been on a roller-coaster ride in recent years, with recent layoffs and restructuring efforts. Brex's cash runway is now four years, and the company's goal is to be cash-flow positive by 2025. Franceschi said that Brex has seen increased revenue growth "without increasing fixed costs," contributed to a lot of savings through layoffs, and worked harder to move faster.

From helping realtors manage property offers to creating sustainable insulation for buildings, the innovative ideas from these five blossoming #startups are growing right here in #WNY with support from Business & Entrepreneur Partnerships | University at Buffalo. Read more ⬇️

Interesting to see so many big names like Skims, Chime, and Stripe choosing to delay their IPOs. It’s a tough market out there, and it looks like 2025 might be the year to watch. Patience and strategic planning are the name of the game. 📈 #technews #ipo #startups

Raise or Exit? Leading engineering teams for "Unicorns" is great for my Ego and Resume Working with Founders who know how to invest their fund raises for an exit is great for my retirement plans. The most important lesson that I've learned is to look at each initiative with a lens of time. Given an investment to build a thing, how long until it becomes operationally profitable and then how long until it pays back its investment. Begin able to answer those questions is doing your part to help get to a profitable exit. This post is a refreshing perspective, more money isn't always better.

This is only going to become more common over the next couple of years as startups try to survive the current economic environment by any means possible. However, poorly constructed cap tables shouldn't make startups uninvestable. At Camber Partners, we see these situations as opportunities to help founders of promising SaaS companies realign incentives through a combination of primary and secondary capital. https://lnkd.in/gwFnDPkV